Getsuubi, My life, My story
by thumbling22
Summary: What would happen if it were the Konoha 13 instead of the Konoha twelve. Getsuubi, the thirteenth, was trained alone and shown very little love. Will he ever truly fit in and find love? Most likely OcXTen NaruXTem. Not sure yet though. Rating for language and violence, among other things.
1. In the Beginning

**AN: **I'm totally going to screw with the entire story line of Naruto here, and I'm going to be skipping forward, sometimes years, into the future at times. Please just understand it's all to fit this character in. Other than that I may be changing a bit about how the characters act compared to canon, this is also so this character will fit. If you don't like it, please don't be a jack ass and flame.

That aside, I'm basically going to start right before everybody joins the academy and move up from there, if I skip a few years and seem to forget to specify, go ahead and shout it out in a PM, I will take care of it. With that, let's get down to business, shall we?

"Your name is?"

"Getsuubi."

"Your full name, if you please."

"Getsuubi. I don't know any other name."

"Meaning you don't have a last name?"

"Genma, leave the poor child alone. He's the one that was left at the gates right after..." The rest of the old mans sentence was lost upon the child as he leaned down to speak in the younger man, Genma's, ear.

Getsuubi studied both men currently in the same room as he was. Genma was probably a mid to late twenty somethings man, with shaggy mouse brown hair and seemingly ever half mast light brown eyes. He wore his forehead protector on the back of his head, and it covered all of the top of his head with a tie in front to keep it from falling. The older man, the Godaime Hokage, with his white and red colored robes and hat, lined face and curious smiling eyes, finally stood up and looked at him again.

Genma's eyes were wide as he studied the boy a little more closely, sure that this could not possibly be the same little urchin that had been left at the gates not long after the Kyuubi attack.

Getsuubi himself was an oddity in the village. He had extremely short sandy blonde hair. His nose and mouth were both a little smaller than what people would consider average, and he always seemed to be quiet when he was calm. His attire was rather simple, if even more strange than average. He wore black cargo pants that were rolled up at the ankles, black shinobi sandals, and a very curious netted shirt under a cut up white and sleeveless shirt. The netted material seemed to have little pouches or armholes down the sides, but they didn't seem to have a purpose, and the sleeveless shirt over the top looked as if someone had taken and cut the armholes until they stretched all the way down the side of his shirt. His arms from the shoulder down to just beneath his elbow were covered with wraps, but if you looked closely at any visible part of the blonde, you could tell that he was already developing muscles. Every time Getsuubi shifted under Genma's gaze the older man could see the muscles in his arms and legs ripple. The most stunning feature about the boy though, and this is what made him such an oddity among the people of Konoha, was his eyes. They were slanted upward at the outer edges, thin and angry, but even stranger was their color. The dark gray in his orbs often made people think of a cloudy sky just before a storm. Not exactly a bad analogy given the boys violent history among the village.

Before now, Genma had often heard of fights breaking out among younger children, and it seemed that always someone would come away with a broken bone or two if this child standing before him had been involved. Most of the time, no one worried about it. The boy just didn't know his own strength. After a while though, when it became clear these accidents weren't stopping, the boy was often ridiculed and forced to play on his own. Apparently this is what had led to the rumors that the demon child, Naruto, and Getsuubi, had started to hang out and play often. No one ever seemed to be able to confirm these stories except the children, for when any adult showed up it would appear that the two weren't even talking to each other.

Once again Genma opened his mouth and asked the question, "So you have no memory of having any name other than Getsuubi, correct?"

The boy nodded stoically once more. He was used to these questions. When he was younger, every person he talked to wanted to know the rest of his name. He didn't have another name, just Getsuubi. He wouldn't have even had that if the card left on his chest had blown away before he was found.

Genma wrote this information down on his sheet and added the photo of Getsuubi to it before once more taking a look at the boy. Those cold gray eyes drilled into the older man. They wouldn't allow him to escape, they wouldn't let him look away. This blonde child may be so many years younger than himself, but something about him made him have a power that most men only wield later in life. He could silence anyone with just a look, and he had silenced Genma in the same fashion.

The Hokage chuckled watching the two younger men. He finally decided that he had let Getsuubi scare the older man enough when he said, "You are dismissed, classes start in three days. Don't be late."

"I won't, Hokage-sama. You have my word." The boy averted his gaze, got up, and left.

As he wandered out of the building, he wondered what he was going to do the rest of the day. Naruto said that he was going to Ichiraku's for dinner, and had offered to pay for him if he wanted to come. He decided that since it was getting late and his sole friend expected him to show up, it would be impolite to do anything else. He started walking along the streets toward one of the few places he truly felt welcome in.

When he got there, he wasn't surprised to hear a very loud blonde in and orange jumpsuit yell at him, "Getsuubi! Oi, Getsuubi! Where the heck have you been? I'm nearly done over here."

"I had to go take care of my stuff for joining the academy Naruto." A small smile graced the gray eyed face as he entered the ramen stand. "You know that. I was standing there when you left."

The foxy grin flashed onto Naruto's face before he slurped down another mouthful of noodles. As he finished swallowing he said, "Yeah, I know. You were the last one there. Took you long enough though. Oi, Ayame-Neechan, guess who decided to show his face again?"

The young woman smiled as she realized that Naruto's friend had once again joined him for dinner.

"Shall I assume you would like your usual, Getsuubi-kun?" She asked, already beginning to prepare it.

"You know it. Thank you, Ayame-chan." Getsuubi blushed as he spoke. He really hated anyone who put that suffix on his name, but it seemed that when the either of the Ichiraku's said it, he didn't really mind. He knew they really were close to being his friends, but he really wasn't sure if they were just trying to make him feel accepted or if they respected him that much. He never felt that it mattered enough to answer.

As his order was set in front of him, he thanked her and Teuchi once again before digging in. Naruto one the other hand, was just finishing his fifth bowl and was starting on his sixth. The short haired blonde just shook his head as he enjoyed slowly devouring the meal before him. He knew that the boy next to him rarely ever ate less than seven or eight bowls when he came here, but was still surprised each time he saw the feat in progress.

"Naruto, do you ever actually slow down and enjoy the taste as you eat this?" He asked, holding up his chopsticks with a bunch of ramen between them.

"I don't need to slow down to enjoy it. This is the food of the gods, and I'm going to eat as much as I can and enjoy every single bite of it." Naruto proudly stated as he once again picked up his bowl and slurped the remaining contents from it.

Again Getsuubi shook his head. His friend never seemed to stop amazing him, and he was rather glad that fate had pushed them together.

As he finished his own bowl, and realized that Naruto was done as well, he looked at his friend. "You know, you really don't have to pay every time you bring me here."

"Yeah I do, I know it's the only time you're actually going to eat a decent meal, and I know that lady that you help garden doesn't pay you more than needed to get you by." Naruto replied as he took out Gama-chan, his wallet, and paid Ayame. He stood up and followed a very embarrassed gray eyed boy. "Hey, sorry I said that in front of them." the blonde boy stated. "I keep forgetting you don't like everybody knowing about your situation."

Getsuubi patted Naruto on the back as he spoke, "It's not too big of a deal, Naruto. I just don't want people to pity me. That's all."

"You're still going to refuse to stay at my place, aren't you?" Naruto queried.

"I'm afraid so. I know what I have may not be the best place-" He was interrupted as his blue eyed friend all but yelled.

"Getsuubi! Staying in a freaking bar because the owners is an aquaintence of yours and lays a mat out for you after hours is a hell of a lot worse than, 'not the best place'." Naruto frowned. "You know I really hate it when you stay there. You don't even have anything to call your own."

Getsuubi frowned. "That's not quite true, Naruto. I do have a few things that are mine." He patted the bag that he kept on his back. "You know as well as I do that I keep everything that belongs to me in here."

Naruto smiled a little sheepishly as he replied, "Yeah, and that consists of two changes of clothes that almost exactly matches what you have on, plus a storage scroll that you've never opened. You know how to do that. Hell, Jiji-san freaking taught you so that you could! Even before you entered the academy!"

"I know, Naruto, but I also know that Hokage-sama told me that it was my choice when I opened it, but whoever left it with me asked that I only do so after my first year in the academy." Getsuubi eyed his only friend as the news sank in.

A stunned look was Naruto's only reply. He hadn't known that piece of information until just now. "So you're going to wait until after this year?" He asked.

"Yeah. That's the plan anyway." Getsuubi looked up and stopped walking. "I'll see you Naruto. Might be tomorrow or might be when we get to the academy. See you around."

Naruto watched as his friend walked up to a bar and pushed the door open. If he had been any other child, Naruto included, the boy would have immediately been thrown right back out on his ear. He sighed. Getsuubi was too proud to accept help from Naruto, he never wanted to be a burden.

Inside the bar, a familiar scene met Getsuubi's eyes. The owner sweeping under the tables and cleaning up any glasses left behind by his customers. Even though the bar was closed, he always left the door open late in case the strange boy needed a place to spend the night. Tonight, as had happened for a few years now, was no different.

"Hello, Getsuubi. Mind helping me finish washing up the dishes? I'm a little behind today." The owner said.

"No big deal Keshai-san. I'm happy to help." It was the same every day. Getsuubi would come in, and Keshai would ask for a little help cleaning up before he retired to the apartment upstairs. The older man had offered on several occasions for the boy to stay on the couch, but each time he had been gently refused. Getsuubi would always just ask for a mat and a sleeping bag to be laid out near the front of the store, and he would sleep there every night. Tonight his bag and mat were already there.

As soon as the sweeping was done, Keshai went to check on what he considered his tenant. Ever since the boy started leaving a few ryo every morning, he'd began to call him that in his mind. He simply couldn't tell the boy that he had to stop paying for a place to sleep because the time that he had, Getsuubi had simply told him that he owed him, and would not accept any returns. Seeing that the dishes were once again spotlessly clean and put away in the proper places on the shelves Keshai decided that he should surprise the blonde.

"You may want to hurry up and check up front, Little man, I left something for you." He said as he smiled and turned to walk up the stairs.

Seeing the look on the owners face, Getsuubi picked up his pack and paced to the front of the store cautiously. He'd never been given anything by anyone other than Naruto before, and that had been free meals at Ichiraku's.

As he neared the sleeping bag, he saw a lump halfway down inside it. Gently pulling it open, he saw a brown package as big as his chest with a small piece of paper on top of it. The paper read, "I know you're going to be starting at the academy this year. I really hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of picking up a few things that I figured you might need.

Signed,

Keshai

P.S. Don't you dare think of paying me more for this, I did this as a gift for you. I don't want to see any more than normal sitting on that counter in the morning, you got that Little man?"

Getsuubi smiled at little at the last part and turned to the package. He carefully pulled at the paper it was wrapped in until he had everything spread out on it, at which point the boy gazed in awe at what the shop owner had gotten for him.

A set of kunai and shuriken sat before him, each polished to pristine condition. There was also a kunai holster and another small pouch that he could attach to his belt for anything else he might need. There was also a small emergency medical kit, ninja wire, and a new set of wrapping that he realized was to replace the tattered ones around his arms. As he collected everything and began putting it away, he realized that there was one more thing that he had missed sitting underneath his kunai holster. It was a simple woven light green bracelet of some sort with a small pendant attached. It was wrapped around yet another small note, which read, "The Hokage stopped by today and gave me this, asking that I pass it on to you. I'm not sure if he found it somewhere for you or if it is part of your inheritance. Either way, he explained that it is an arm band. It is meant to be worn around your bicep. The symbol on the pendant just means warrior. I thought it was pretty appropriate when he told me. Hope you liked your present Little man. Sleep well tonight.

Signed,

Keshai

P.S. I'm probably going to forget to tell you in the other note I plan on writing, so I'll tell you now. Hirashi asked me to tell you that she would like your help again tomorrow. I'll get you up tomorrow.

Getsuubi placed the note down as he once again picked up the arm band. He slid it up his arm until it was around his bicep before tightening it so it would not slide down. He organized the rest of his belongings in his pack and cleaned up the wrapping paper before contentedly laying down in his sleeping bag.

His last thoughts before he fell asleep were that he was going to have to thank Keshai a lot for the gift. He hadn't even thought of what he would need to become a shinobi yet.


	2. An interesting day

A young blonde was gently shaken awake the next morning to find a worried face looking into his.

"Shaking again, wasn't I?" The tired boy mumbled as he pulled himself up. He started to blink as the man nodded.

"Yeah, I figured you probably didn't want the regulars to see that again, Little man." Keshai said with a grin. "Besides, it's almost time for you to start getting ready to go help Hirashi-san."

Getsuubi blinked rapidly as he reached into his pack and pulled out another set of clothes before heading to the back of the bar and up the stairs. Keshai laughed quietly as he picked up the small bundle of bedding the boy used nightly and rolled it up.

The old man had once caught the boy sneaking into his bar and stealing food. At the sight of the owner glaring at him, he had quickly bolted for the door and left. Ever since then, the old man had watched and listened as the same story was told multiple times by several other owners in the area. The boy would sneak in and eat bits and pieces of the meals that people would push away, until he was seen by the owner. The instant he noticed he was being watched, he would bolt for the door and wouldn't be seen again for a few months. About a month after the first incident, and having heard many stories, the old man had formed a simple plan. He'd accidentally let the dirty dishes with food on them stack up on the far end of the bar, and when the child came again, he would try to corner him to find out why he seemed to keen on not being found out, other than the fact that he was far more than blatantly underage. His plan worked. Within two nights the blonde haired boy had wondered in. And from that moment on, Keshai began to see the other side of life.

The boy once again managed to get in and past everyone without being noticed, and immediately made a bee line for the food on the plates. Having just had an influx of customers, Keshai didn't notice the gray eyed boy hiding there for quite a while. However, the boy made a mistake, and turned his back for just a moment as he knelt down to hide under the edge of the counter, out of the corner of his eye, the old man saw this and slowly approached the child so as not to alert him. When the boy came back up, Keshai gently grabbed his hand to restrain him, and immediately demanded an answer to his questions. Why was the boy stealing, where were his parents, why did he run away, and most importantly, why only take the leftovers instead of the fresh food if he were such a talented sneak-thief? The boy just stood there and fidgeted as more and more of the bar became silent upon realizing who it was. As soon as the last adult voice became hushed the boy spoke. Keshai would never forget any of those words.

"I steal because I have no money, no place to call home, and no parents. I was left here at the gates of Konoha not long after I was born. I run away when I am seen because I don't want to be hurt for taking things that do not belong to me, even though I need them to survive." At this the boy paused and looked at his feet. Everyone waited with baited breath. "And I only take the leftover food because I can't pay for anything. This way I am only stealing what someone else has already payed for, and no longer wants. If I took your fresh food without payment, I would be no better than a common criminal and should be punished as such." As the boy quietly but confidently finished, he pulled his hand away from the older man and looked around at the rest of the men in the bar. "If it's ok with you, I can take care of the dishes." Getsuubi spoke up again as he realized that no one was going to answer his speech.

"Uh.. S-sure, come on then. I'll show you where everything goes." He gestured further towards the back where the sink and shelves were. "I'll be right back guys. No funny business." He called back at the adults sitting around the bar. Each of them knew better than to try to swipe anything from Keshai, as he had never cheated any of them.

As Keshai watched the boy begin doing the dishes an idea formed in his mind.

"You said you have no place to call home, didn't you?" As the boy nodded solemnly, the bar owner asked another question. "I'll tell you what, how would you like to help me out after hours cleaning this place up, and you can stay up front near the door. I've got an old sleeping bag and mat you can borrow."

The look on the boys face wasn't what the kindly old man expected. At first his features showed outrage and he glared at the bartender, but the longer he looked, the more his features softened until only a scowl remained.

"You actually mean it?" The boy queried quietly.

"Yes, so long as you help out around here." The older man replied before he started explaining where all the separate dishes went on the shelves.

A little while later, the boy came up behind the older man and tapped him on the arm. As Keshai turned, he heard the child speak again. "I've got to go get something from where I hid it. I'll be back later, if that's still ok?"

Keshai nodded and turned back to his business when he saw the boy sprint out of the door. He left the door unlocked until late that night when the boy returned with a small pack wrapped up in his arms. The boy saw the sleeping bag laying there, and went over to it before he sat down at the head.

"Thank you." He said quietly.

Looking up from wiping the last saucer, Keshai realized the boy had returned. "I never got your name, Little man, what is it?"

"It's Getsuubi. What would you prefer I call you?" The boy asked as he looked up from digging around in his pack.

"Just call me Keshai. I have one more question before I go to bed, Getsuubi." Seeing the boy nod to acknowledge he was still listening, he continued. "I have a friend who is getting a little older and needs help with her garden. She's looking for someone like you that can help her, and has offered to pay a little bit if you don't mind. It won't be much mind you, but it's better than nothing."

The young blonde practically jumped up as he accepted the older mans offer. "What time do I need to be ready?"

The older man gave a chuckle as he headed to the back of the bar and up the stairs. "Don't worry, I'll get you up in plenty of time. One more thing, you're going to take a shower as long as you're staying here. The bathroom is up these stair and the first door on your left. Good night, Little man."

Getsuubi hadn't replied, but as he layed down and stared at the ceiling, holding his pack close, he smiled. Naruto was right, there were a few people out there who didn't treat him like he was muck under their shoes.

Getsuubi came back down the stairs and walked over to his pack, stuffing his used clothes back into it.

"Thanks again, Keshai-san. I'll see you later." The boy called as he let himself out of the door.

"Take care, Little man. Tell Hirashi I say hi, ok?"

"Will do." The door closed, cutting any further conversation short as the short blonde haired boy was once again off to his daily routine. He headed down the streets of Konoha until he came across the house where the old lady dwelt. It was a simple, single story house with a small yard around it, most of which was taken up by a garden.

"Hirashi-san, I'm here to help!" Getsuubi called as he opened the gate and welcomed himself to the yard. Upon hearing a reply from around the side of the house, he quickly set his things down on the porch and ran around to help her. In the back of the house was where she cultivated her larger plants, and she would often ask the boy to water and weed them while she worked in the smaller garden up front. Today was no different.

Hirashi was a short woman, but her diminutive height hid a very hefty woman. One thing that Getsuubi had learned very early in his career with the older woman was to never disagree with her. She could hit quite hard when she tried.

As he walked into the back yard, Getsuubi noticed that Hirashi sat on the back doorstep, a place she hardly ever rested.

"Ah, I see my young Getsuubi has finally made his appearance for the day. How have you been?" she asked.

Getsuubi shrugged. "I'm getting by as best I can. I'll be starting at the academy in two days though, so I won't be able to help you out as much as I do now. It'll mostly be in the evenings. That is, if you would still like my help."

"I would very much appreciate it young man. I haven't forgotten about your plan to become a shinobi." The old lady winked as she got up. "If you work hard today, I have something special I want to show you later."

"Ok, Hira-san. The same as usual?" Seeing her nod, the gray eyed male gather his tools and began weeding out everything that didn't belong in the garden. He could fit between the rows, which made him ideally cut out for this work.

After nearly six hours, and a significant pile of weeds and grasses, later, the boy finished his task. He then returned to the front lawn, where he gathered two buckets of water that he would walk up and down the rows, slowly tipping the contents out of. Another hour of this work, and he was done.

As Getsuubi went to gather his things to find a place for lunch, Hirashi called to him, "Don't go yet, I'm almost done up here. If you wouldn't mind helping, I can feed you also before you go."

Not having any particular place to be, he once again set his belongings down and joined the old woman in her garden. They spoke of many things to pass the time, ranging from the weather to the boys enrollment in the Ninja academy. As they finished up, Hirashi invited the blonde inside. As far as the boy remembered, this was only the third time he had been inside of her home. Once before had been when he was introduced, the other time was when she had made cookies for him after a particularly long day of work. Both times he had confined himself to the kitchen and dining room. This time however, she led him somewhere else. A hall with a thin outer wall led out of the back of the kitchen to the rooms of her home. It was into one of these living quarters that she took the young boy and sat him on a bed.

"I'll be back in a moment, please say here." she said as she exited the room.

Getsuubi had no choice really, he didn't want to invade her space, but seeing as how she had brought him here, he hadn't really invaded. As he waited, his mind began to notice how sparse the old woman's entire house was. This room only had a bed, a dresser, and a single small light on a table in one corner. No other features adorned the room. The only light currently showing in the room came through the wall across the hall.

His wandering eyes returned to the door as he heard footsteps returning. As Hirashi walked into the room, keeping her hands well hidden behind her back, she cleared her throat and spoke.

"It wasn't by coincidence that you met me, Getsuubi. Ever since the first time I saw you, I knew where you had come from. Unfortunately, I cannot elaborate, for to do so would be the death of me. However, I can tell you this, I was once a part of the same group of people you came from. You will never see them again, because I fear that they have died out, but I have been granted their final request." She brought her hands around to the front of her, holding a single, small scroll. "I know that for a while now you've worn that netted shirt because you have special powers. I know the reason why you wear it. Within this scroll lies some of the answers you seek as to why you have them. The last I heard, I was to pass this on to a worthy person before I died. I may not be a fortune teller, but even I know I won't last much longer among my precious plants. I deem you worthy, because you have never once complained about your situation or anything else in your life. Use this scroll wisely."

She handed him the scroll tentatively, and he took it with a careful and reverent attitude showing in his eyes.

"Thank you, Hirashi-san." She could tell the boy was close to tears. "Thank you so much."

She was startled as the usually unemotional boy flung his arms around her middle and hugged her. She gradually hugged him back before she let go and tousled his hair.

"Come, we still have to eat." She said as she disentangled herself from the boy and headed back out to the kitchen. "It's simple, but I made ramen for you."

Getsuubi smiled. He really liked ramen. Maybe not as much as Naruto, but it was definitely one of his favorite foods.

As they ate, he and Hirashi once again made small talk until they were done, and Getsuubi helped to do the dishes before he announced that he should be headed back to Keshai's before it got too late. He knew the older man would need help tonight, as it was a weekend and thus a popular time for customers to come in.

Hirashi thanked him for his help, and handed him his payment as he was putting his sandals back on.

After a moment, Getsuubi turned his face up to Hirashi's.

"Hirashi-san, this is twice what you normally pay me... Are you sure?" He asked. He didn't like that she was doing so much all at once.

"Don't ask question's baka. I did what I meant to do, now run along. Keshai needs you." She watched as the boy blushed, thanked her profoundly once again, grabbed his things, and ran out of the yard in the direction of Keshai's bar. If her gut was right, and she knew that it hadn't been wrong up until this point, it would be the last time that she saw the little blonde boy before she passed away.

If Getsuubi would have known that, he wouldn't have been quite as happy while he headed back to Keshai.

As he arrived at the bar, he noticed that there was quite a few people inside. This made it even easier for him to slide into his regular place behind the counter undetected.

Keshai, currently serving a couple and cleaning up other dishes, turned with them in his arms and smiled as he saw the child already hard at work cleaning the dishes and helping to prepare the food. He had to hand it to the gray eyed boy, he really was a big help when this place got busy.

The bartender set the dishes down among the other dishes before patter the blonde child on the back. "Thanks for the hand. How did work go today?"

"Pretty good," the boy called. "I got a scroll from Hirashi-san and she fed, me dinner, so I should be good for tonight."

Keshai raised his eyebrows at the boy, never having heard of such a thing happening before.

"I'll explain later, Keshai-san. You have my word." The child said as he returned his hands to the job of scrubbing plates clean.

Once the night had wound down and Keshai had a chance to close down the bar, he and Getsuubi talked over everything that had happened during the day. As the old man once again dug out the boys sleeping bag, Getsuubi dug out the scroll and opened it. What was there surprised him so much his eyes widened.

Keshai noticed the look on his face, but didn't try to get a look at what the boy held, knowing it was his possession to share if he so chose. Instead he opted to ask, "What is in it, Little man?"

"Remember how I said I had abilities no one else had?" He looked up and saw the older man nod. "This scroll teaches me how I can master those abilities. I think they left it with her hoping that she would find me some day and give it to me."

"It's possible. But I'm not so sure. I wouldn't get too far ahead of yourself. Just take it a day at a time. Learn it gradually. Ok?"

"You got it Keshai-san. I'm not going to go overboard." The young blonde replied. "You mind if I take my shower tonight instead of in the morning? It didn't sound like Hirashi-san needed me so I'm free to help you too."

"Go for it, and wash your clothes out tomorrow too, since you have the time." Keshai stated flatly. He followed the gray eyed child up the stairs and headed into his room, falling asleep to the sound of running water.

Getsuubi was thrilled. When he had learned of the techniques he was capable of, it had only been a raw guess and it took a ton of effort for anything to happen. He'd asked the Hokage a few questions, and had learned a great deal. Now he was able to do a little bit of it because of his practice, and the scroll was going to teach him how to do more of his techniques in the near future.

When the blonde got back downstairs, he opened the scroll one more time, reading the first few words before he rolled it up and put it inside his pack.

He was going to finish learning his Multiplication techniques. After that, he would just be happy to be able to carry out his missions proficiently, with or without a team did not matter to him.

Getsuubi closed his eyes and envisioned his future life. It didn't have any of the glitz and glam that other kids his age would dream of. He just wanted to be a great ninja, and he had one other thing he wanted to do. He wanted to make sure the only person that ever helped him made it through life okay. Naruto had been his first and only true friend, and Getsuubi would not soon forget the other blonde.

After all, he probably owed that boy his life.


	3. Personal Torture Aka: Training

**His second year at the Academy**

Getsuubi sat in class a classroom full of kids his age. He and Naruto sat next in the desk next to the window, about halfway back from the front of the class. They'd picked it out and had stayed put every day since their first day in the Academy. Remembering that day led Getsuubi to start thinking of everything that had changed in his life in the past two years instead of listening to more boring history spouted by his Sensei. Don't get him wrong, it's not that he didn't care, it's just that he liked to reminisce about the past sometimes.

The first major change in his life had been rather shocking, and had also ruined an otherwise great day in his memory. His first day at the academy had been great, and he'd run back to Keshai's bar to express his enjoyment of the time. The expression on the bartenders face had thrown that little bit of happiness out of his attitude very quickly. Getsuubi didn't get a chance to ask him about it for about an hour, and when he'd shared the news Getsuubi had immediately left the bar at a dead run, Keshai hollering behind him about he'd be waiting later.

Hirashi was gone. He couldn't believe it. Just a few days ago he'd been helping her in her garden, he'd gotten the scroll from her, he'd been fed by her, he'd been enjoying life just a little. Now one of the people he had grown an attachment to was gone. He'd ran until he could see her house, and what he saw only confirmed what Keshai had said. The plants in the front yard seemed to share in the boys grief, for they were all bowed and seemed as if they had wilted a little. The young blonde had watched, wide eyed, as people he didn't know had come and moved everything that belonged to the old lady out of the house. He'd watched silently as people walked by, each one looking at the house with some surprise. No one seemed to remember a time that Hirashi hadn't been there. Late that night, he'd made his way back to the bar. It had taken another three hours before Keshai and he had gotten to bed. Needless to say, Getsuubi really didn't feel like getting up the next morning to go to the Academy.

As time had passed, the impact her death had on him had lessened. He'd learned to deal with it and just put a mask on when the rest of the world asked. He'd learned to do that from Naruto.

Naruto had also finally convinced the boy to start spending the night in his apartment every now and then. He usually slept on the couch on those nights, and both boys noticed some changes the first time that villagers broke in to terrorize Naruto. First of which was that they didn't know what to do with Getsuubi when he defended his friend. The second was a little more scary. Once they'd realized that the 'demon brat' had a friend, one who was known to have anger management problems, they left both of them alone.

There was only one other major thing that had changed during his Academy days, but as his thoughts turned to that, his Sensei called for the students to go to recess and lunch. They would have the rest of the day to practice out on the grounds before they went home.

Getsuubi brought out the lunch that Keshai had packed for him and quickly ate it with gusto. Dumplings in a miso broth with and apple. Nothing fancy, but it kept him from going hungry. Naruto's own food was another lunch just like Getsuubi's. Naruto didn't have the money to pay for all his meals unless he bought instant ramen, and he had no place to make those at the Academy, so Getsuubi had taken to asking Keshai for an extra lunch for his fellow blonde male. When Naruto tried to reject his generosity, he had just said that it was payment for all those times that Naruto had taken him to Ichiraku's. Naruto never complained after that.

As usual, when the boys were done, Naruto challenged him to a shuriken throwing contest. Naruto was going to lose, but it was fun anyway. As they walked over to the practice range, Getsuubi couldn't help but notice that almost their entire class was congregating to watch them. Even their Sensei was coming up behind them to watch. They'd all heard about what Getsuubi could do, but no one had ever seen him in action yet other than Naruto. He'd told some of the others about what Getsuubi did on his free evenings out in one of the larger tree covered areas. Getsuubi decided that maybe it was better to let them finally see this and get all the questions off his back so he could go back to his quiet life.

"Hey Naruto, go through your full set of ten. I'll do the same once your done, no turns this time."

"You got it Getsuubi." Naruto said as he pulled his shuriken from their pouch and started throwing them one at a time towards the wooden posts. Only seven of them found homes in the wood. Among them, there were only four that actually hit a target.

"You're turn, lets see if you can still beat me." Naruto said with a knowing smirk.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a small dust storm obliterated the sight where his friend had been standing. Naruto backed amongst his fellow students and all of them covered their eyes as the flying dirt began to try to stick to their eyes.

Each of them heard a shout from the origin of the small tornado, but none of them could make any clear words out of it. Suddenly there were ten solid thunks, and the dust began to settle.

Standing in front of the class was something that all of them collectively had one word to describe. A freak.

Getsuubi's form had changed quite drastically in the short period of time they couldn't see him. As the children began to get a clearer view, they gasped collectively. Getsuubi now had three arms on each side of his body. All six of his shoulders were hunched up right around where his original shoulder had been. Each one of his extra arms was sticking through a hole in his mesh shirt that had previously looked like some sort of weird pocket.

The students were so focused on him that they had to look again when they heard their Sensei whistle appreciatively. They looked down the range and even Naruto was not expecting what he saw. All ten of the shuriken were imbedded in the exact center of each of the ten posts targets.

"Not fair! You threw them all at once and you still royally kicked my butt! I'm never wagering another bowl of ramen for this kind of stuff you lucky bastard!" Naruto yelled at his friend with a smile on his face. He began laughing when Getsuubi turned around with a happy glimmer in his eyes. Any one of the other kids couldn't see it, but Naruto had learned where to look. The other students, even that stuck up Uchiha, had their mouths hanging open.

"That's ok Naruto, I don't really mind not wagering anymore... Umm." He shrugged all six of his arms toward the rest of the group. "Would any of you have any questions about this, cause I'm only going to offer to answer them once."

Seeing that they were all too amazed to ask a question, he immediately released the technique and his arms melted into his body, once again leaving a normal boy standing before his classmates. Still seeing that they couldn't move, he pushed his way through them until he could talk to his Sensei.

"Since I've done that, is there anything else you would like to see today, or may I leave Sensei?"

"You can go, Getsuubi. Some day I'd like to see how you fight in a taijutsu only spar though." Was his reply.

"I'm still working on that part Sensei. I'll see you tomorrow."

With that the short haired blonde walked away and went off to train by himself. He would normally pull Naruto along with him, but Naruto still needed to train at the Academy a little before he could be let go for the day. Besides, there were things that Getsuubi had to deal with, and he found himself wandering up towards the Hokage tower before he even consciously made his choice. He needed to spend some time outside of the village, and to do that he'd need the Hokage's permission.

Of course, the longer he sat and waited for the secretary to announce that he could enter, the more he thought of just walking out and dealing with the consequences later. Not like they would be much. Everyone knew that when he asked for these trips out, he would be coming back on a stretcher, carried by two Anbu. It was always the same for the poor child.

As he was let into the Hokage's office, his back straightened and he looked directly into the eyes of his superior.

The Hokage sighed as he studied Getsuubi. "I suppose this is the usual request, isn't it?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I've been trying to avoid it and put it off as long as possible, but the backlash nearly caught me when I showed my classmates earlier. I still need to learn to control it better before I do that again."

Sarutobi turned his chair so that he faced the windows, studying the village. "How far can you go before you lose control now?"

"I can hold three arms for three days. It gets a little bit hard if I have to constantly use them, but I can do it without fear for others. My fourth arm causes me trouble, as does holding a second body more than three minutes. I plan on seeing if I can remedy at least one of these things while I am out. I believe that I can master holding a second body at least. The arms are a little harder."

"You have my permission." Once again turning back to the blonde, he finished signing the paper in front of him before opening a drawer in the side of his desk. "I expect you to be back by tomorrow evening. Do you understand Getsuubi?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. I'll do my best." The gray eyed boy grabbed the scroll that was tossed at him, and slowly walked out of the tower. Many would say that he looked dejected as he walked down the road towards the gates of Konoha, but Naruto and the Hokage knew differently. The boy was containing everything inside of him, concentrating as hard as he could so that he didn't have an incident inside the village. He would never forgive himself if it happened there. Too many had already been lost because of the backlash from Getsuubi's bloodline.

The guards at the gate just eyed the boy as he came up and shoved the scroll on the table between them. They knew what it said, and the seal showed it was from the Hokage. They called the Anbu as they watched the boy once again begin his trek away from his village.

Getsuubi felt when his elite guard caught up to him. He could always feel chakra of others. It wasn't acute or accurate, but he could tell there were three of them them following him. Whether they were to stop others from interfering or to stop him if it got too far out of control was up for debate as far as the Academy student was concerned. He knew they had orders to kill him if his destructiveness reached to close to the village. Not that it would stop him if he died. He'd already proven that it didn't affect him much.

Getsuubi settled into a grove of trees that was about a mile and a half from Konoha. It was his usual place, but every time he came here, he was always surprised to see that somehow things had been regrown. They were never left like that once he was finished.

As he thought once again about his abilities, he started focusing his chakra. He would master this. He'd promised himself that he would.

A foreign seal was formed by the boys hands, and he felt the Anbu draw back. They knew what was coming, and they knew that if they were too close they'd just be more dead and destroyed objects. Getsuubi brought his hands together, his left forming a vertical wall as his right fist smashed into his palm.

"Multiplication Jutsu, Twin Buunshin!" He cried. The flesh seemed to melt on the right side of his body, slowly oozing off of him and pooling on the ground next to him. From this puddle of flesh formed and exact replica of Getsuubi, a tiny strand of skin still attaching him to the original.

At once they both collapsed to their knees, four hand holding their respective faces. The hard part started now.

As both blondes began to howl like madmen, they started to claw at their faces. Neither could leave any mark on it, but it still caused pain. The original Getsuubi was the first to look up, and if anyone could have seen him at that point, the would have pissed themselves. In the once gray eyed boys place stood something else. His eyes stared blankly forward, reminding his twin of a distant memory of a person called a Hyuuga. Not that the memory lasted long as the pain once again took over. His eyes were pure silver, reflecting the light they absorbed and seeming to shine like lightning in a storm. Finally stopping his screaming, the clone registered that the pain had subsided, but it still felt like his entire being was on fire. Both of them stood up, and promptly started destroying everything around them.

As the original Getsuubi's fist impacted on the trunk of a tree, it exploded, spraying splinters and chunks of wood out behind where the tree had been standing. The remains of the tree collapsed between the twins, but it didn't even deter them that the strand of skin was about to be snapped.

They raced to more trees, tearing the ground underneath them with their speed. For a moment the thread of skin stretched as it met the trunk of the tree, and did something that only an outsider would have found amazing.

It passed right through the tree.

Of course, if the person watching was a careful observer, he would also notice that the strand of skin went through the clothing both boys wore, but no one had ever had time to notice this. No one had ever gotten close enough without realizing they would die if they stayed.

The destruction caused by the boys ceased suddenly as they once again crashed onto their knees, this time holding the backs of their heads. To them it felt like someone had clubbed them with the trunk of one of the fallen trees. Their heads felt like splitting open.

This was Getsuubi reasserting his will.

When he lost control, it didn't matter if someone was an enemy or friend, they would be destroyed by the rampaging boy. Or boys, as the case may be.

The eyes of both boys slowly faded back to the original gray, but it took a very long time. Several hours passed as the twins held their heads and gasped for each breath.

Finally, he gained control. It had taken five different tries before he had finally gotten it down, but now Getsuubi could control both his body and that of his clone. They both stood up and walked toward the original point of the destruction, knowing what was to come was even more strenuous.

As they neared their objective, they once again began gathering their chakra, forming the strange seal with their hands.

Two voices cried in perfect unison, "Partial Multiplication Jutsu, Arms of the Insect!"

As their bodies once again changed and each one formed four extra arms, their eyes once again fought a battle. This time though, neither boy dropped to his knees. They leaned against each other, providing support for the other as their opposite did the same. It was close to literally hugging himself, Getsuubi thought.

Almost as soon as that thought formed his rage began to die, and he asserted his control once again.

This was what he did when he left. Worked until he could control the rage that came with each of his transformations. To be able to work through both of these so fast was amazing, but it had another side effect.

This effect caused him to fall over, unconscious, three hours later. He'd held the form too long, working out all of the kinks. His chakra was exhausted.

Another hour passed before the boy rolled over and popped a pill into his mouth. He set himself against a tree, and fell back asleep. He always slept out here when he didn't have the energy to go home again. After his accomplishment earlier that day, he'd probably be sleeping through the next day anyway.

Sure enough, the next evening found him waking up in the Konoha hospital. The sight that met him though, was one that he hadn't expected.

"Hoy, Getsuubi! You're finally up! I'm so glad, I heard you left to practice again. Why do you always do that? Why can't you stay and help me out more on my taijutsu?" His obnoxious blonde friend asked. The nurse that was checking up on him glared at Naruto, but Getsuubi almost couldn't have been more pleased. He rolled out of bed, and as soon as the nurse said he could go and left, got dressed and walked out. He hated hospitals almost as much as Naruto, but that was always where the Anbu dropped him. He guessed it was probably for the best. They'd make sure he didn't die from his overuse of chakra.

As the short haired blonde rummaged through his pack to make sure everything was still there, he once again thanked Kami that he'd been given that scroll. It was really helping him get the hang of his techniques.

He and Naruto went their separate ways when they walked past his apartment block. Getsuubi planned on spending the night with Keshai tonight. The old guy could probably use his help.

That was another thing that seemed to have changed in the past two years. The older man had started to show signs of aging. Not really knowing how old he was, Getsuubi just started showing up more and more often to help out. Many times giving up his training for more time spent with Keshai.

As he entered the bar, a few people turned their heads, but went right back to talking when they saw the boy. It was a well known fact that the boy often came to clean up and help cook alongside the bartender, and no one was going to argue so long as his cooking continued to improve at it's current rate.

When the bar closed that night, Keshai and he spent another hour talking over everything since their last visit. It was nice to do things like that. Before long, Keshai dug out the familiar roll of bedding, and headed to the back for the stairs.

"Night, Keshai-san. See you in the morning." Getsuubi called.

"Yeah. Night Little man."


	4. Enter, Anko Mitarashi

**The evening after he graduated the Academy**

Getsuubi was happy. He wasn't overjoyed or ecstatic, just happy. Today he'd accomplished one of his goals, he'd passed the tests set forth at the academy. Naruto, however had not. When they were dismissed Getsuubi had sat next to his blonde friend outside the entrance to the Academy.

"Still have the same old trouble with the Buunshin, aren't you?" He queried.

"You could say that. It doesn't matter how many times I've tried, I just can't get the damned thing right. It always comes out totally useless." The blue eyed boy pouted. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong either. The only two things I can do kinda good are Kawarimi and Henge."

"I know. I've seen you, and you're the one who taught me how to do the stupid Henge." Getsuubi saw his friend smile at the memory. "It's still pretty priceless the look on Iruka-sensei's face when he found out it was completely solid." Getsuubi illustrated the look that had been on their sensei's face and Naruto busted out laughing.

"It's so much funnier when you do it, cause it makes your eyes look all funny." Naruto said. He was glad that Getsuubi was doing his best to cheer him up. The more he watched the other kids and their parents, the more isolated he felt. Having Getsuubi helped more than anyone would ever know.

Both blondes turned back to watch as the crowd in front of the academy and watched it thin out until just Uchiha boy was left. He walked over to where the two blondes sat.

"Hey, Getsuubi, Dobe." He said.

"Don't call me dobe, Sasuke-teme. I have a name you know." Naruto shouted.

"Hey, Sasuke. Can you at least go light on him for once. He's the only one they wouldn't let pass." Getsuubi stated flatly.

Uchiha Sasuke wasn't what either blonde would really call a friend, but after he lost his family, he'd become a lot less of a stuck up prick around both of them. He seemed to realize they all shared a connection.

Sasuke's face didn't change, but his words did. "Naruto, will you at least stop shouting now?"

Naruto immediately stopped his tirade and his acting and sat back on his swing. "Yeah, I guess. Since you actually used my name for once. Hey, you guys wanna go get some ramen for dinner? To celebrate you two graduating?"

"Sorry, Naruto. I'll have to do it some other time. There was something I needed to do tonight before I get assigned to my team tomorrow." Sasuke actually looked contrite about his apology, and Naruto said that doing it later sounded great. Getsuubi was also relieved, because he'd promised Keshai that he would be at the bar tonight to help.

The three broke apart and went their separate ways a little while later. Naruto going to get his ramen, Sasuke walking towards his clans district, and Getsuubi headed for the red light district and Keshai's bar.

When he was younger, the gray eyed boy had not realized exactly what sort of area he was stealing food from, he just knew that the people around there were almost always loud and inebriated. Now he understood what happened in the part of town, but he wouldn't abandon Keshai just because of where business was convenient.

As he walked into the door, he was greeted by a warm welcome from the regular customers. His cooking had become quite good in his time with the older bartender, and the people who regularly came in would always ask if he was coming in. If he was, they would wait for him to show up to order anything to eat. Each one of them quickly took notice of his hitai-ate that was strapped around one of his thighs, and whistled or made some comment about it.

As Getsuubi passed by one of the tables, his arm was caught by one of the regulars and he was wheeled around to face her. She was one that was in sometimes, just enough for him to recognize her, and he'd realized a long time ago that she was a kunoichi. He figured she just came to drink away her problems. Getsuubi regained his feet and stood in front of the purple haired woman defiantly.

"What's a youngster like you doing in here and wearing a hitai-ate?" She asked.

"I earned it at the academy. As for what I'm doing here I owe the bartender for providing me with a place to sleep. Now if you don't mind I have things to do..." Getsuubi stated flatly.

The kunoichi laughed, and the boy had the nasty suspicion that this was the person that Iruka had mentioned as the Snake Princess, Mitiroshin or something like that.

"Yeah, I s'pose you do. By the way, I'm Anko, Mitarashi Anko. You ever need help with something just ask kid." She said as she let go of his arm.

The blonde rolled his shoulder before he answered coldly "Do not call me a kid, Anko. I've lost it on people for a hell of a lot less. I'd rather not get into trouble on my first day as a gennin, but insult what little pride I have one more time, and consequences be damned. I'll try to tear your ass apart. I'll fail, but I'll give you one hell of a run for your money. As for your offer for help, I don't ask for help. Never have, and never will. If I can't do I on my own then I wasn't meant to do it. Now if you don't mind, leave me alone. I need to get to work." He turned and stocked off behind the bar, leaving a very surprised woman behind him.

He didn't bother looking back over his shoulder as he took up his position at the grill and began preparing the food as fast as Keshai could take the orders. By now Getsuubi had mastered handling a full dozen bodies, each one with six arms apiece. It was more than was needed to man the bar, but he did use a couple at times like this when times were busy. Had he bothered to look back, he would have seen one Mitarashi Anko watching him with great interest. She might just go back on her word to not take a gennin team this year, she thought, so long as this boy would be on it. He had spunk, to talk to her like he had and walk away, and he used his techniques as if they were nothing in the long run. Creating four of himself and all of them immediately growing extra arms and working would have left most chuunin standing exhausted.

Anko began to wonder just how strong the boy really was as she left the bar to go to the Hokage tower.

As she walked into the Hokage's office, she realized that the room was already populated by three other jounins, Hatake, Asuma, and Kurenai.

The Hokage broke the sudden silence. "Anko-san, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I was wondering, Hokage-sama, if I could talk to you for a moment?"

The question was answered as Sarutobi motioned for the others to clear the room, he gave them clear instructions to wait outside, and they would resume their talk in a few moments.

As soon as they had shut the door, Anko turned to the Hokage again. "I was wondering about one of the new gennin."

"Any particular one?" The Hokage asked with some curiousity.

"In fact, yes. Getsuubi. I was wondering where you were planning on placing him for his team assignment."

"And why have do you care so suddenly?"

"I saw him tonight, in the red light district in one of the bars. He helps the bartender, Keshai, out a lot. Tonight he walked in with the hitai-ate strapped around his thigh, and I grabbed him to talk to him. After a few minutes he pretty much politely told me where I could shove my degrading words, and promptly went to work with the help of some of his special clones. He acted like it was no big deal that he just used a ton of chakra for such a mundane purpose as making food. He didn't even flinch when he brought them into existence." She paused to catch her breath after her tirade, and realized that the old man before he was smirking. "What?" She asked, slightly flustered now.

"Are you volunteering to be his jounin sensei, Mitarashi-san?" He asked.

"If he is not already assigned, then yes, I would." Was the immediate reply. She couldn't say what impulse made her say it so quickly, but she was more than happy that she had finally made a choice.

The Hokage stood and walked to the door, opened it, and brought the others back inside.

"We were discussing the fate of Naruto and Getsuubi, along with the Uchiha." Sarutobi said as he motioned towards the others. "It would appear that due to unusual circumstances involving the theft of the sealed scroll, and the subsequent learning of Kage Buunshin, Naruto has become a gennin. This would mean that we have one extra gennin than the current teams require. I believe that the Uchiha would be best paired with Naruto, so that they could learn from each other, but that would leave Getsuubi to wait. However," He held up one hand to forestall the speaking of the three jounins beside Anko, "We have found a way around that. You said, Anko-san, that he can create enough of himself that he could make his own team, and he can do it without any sort of apparent strain, right?"

At a nod from her and confused looks from the others, he continued. "Then this is what I propose. The teams shall be as follows. Under Kurenai-san, there will be Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino. Under Asuma-san, there will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akamichi Chouji. Under Kakashi-san, there will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto. Anko-san, you will train Getsuubi. Are there are objections to this arrangement?" After a few moments of looking between each others faces, the jounins unanimously shook their heads. "Then that is settled, your teams will be assigned tomorrow at thee academy. Don't be late." With that each of them disappeared from the room using various means.

Back at the bar, Getsuubi and Keshai were closing up early. The regulars were still there, but only those that Getsuubi had gotten to know through his years with Keshai. As everyone sat down at the bar, each held a saucer with sake in it, even the boy, but for once no one was going to complain about it. He was a shinobi, so he may as well be an adult in their eyes.

Keshai stood behind the bar and held his saucer aloft as he spoke, "Here's to the boy that has become close to all of us. Getsuubi, this is to your accomplishment of one of your goals. This is to you becoming a Shinobi." Each of them held up their saucers, including the stoic boy, and then drank the contents.

Getsuubi stood when he was done. "Thank you, to all of you." A small smile found it's way onto his face. "Thank you for accepting me as I am, and for celebrating with me on this night." As soon as he was done, he sat down again. Each of the men had a few more saucers of sake before they began to clear out. Getsuubi lay down on his bed as the last one left.

"I get assigned to my team tomorrow..." he said as Keshai sat on a chair next to him. "I wonder what Naruto is going to do."

"If he's your friend, he'll be ok. I think it takes a lot to truly be your friend. That said, he's probably already figured out a way to become a gennin. Only worry about him he hasn't found a way within the next few days. Deal?"

The gray eyed boy thought about if for a few minutes before he stuck out his hand and shook Keshai's. "Deal."

**The next day in his regular classroom**

"Hoy, Getsuubi." A very subdued Naruto said.

The short haired blonde looked up to see his friend standing over him. Complete with a hitai-ate on his forehead.

"How'd you make it? I thought you didn't pass yesterday. Were you just doing that to make me pity you?" Getsuubi rapid fired questions at his companion.

"No, nothing like that. It's a long story. To make it short, Mizuki told me that if I stealed the Hokage's sealed scroll and learned one of the techniques in it that I could become a gennin. He tried to steal the scroll from me, but Iruka sensei came and stopped him. Mizuki tried to kill Iruka, but I had learned Kage Buunshin. Apparently I can do that one right, because I created like two hundred of them and beat the crap out of Mizuki. I hope Iruka-sensei is ok. He took a shuriken to his back to stop it from hitting me."

Getsuubi smiled at his friend. "Don't worry. It'll take more than that to rid us of Iruka-sensei. He's too stubborn to let that stop him." He poked the hitai-ate on his friends forehead. "It's good to know I picked a good friend. Told you, you could do it."

Naruto thought about it for a minute before he laughed and took his seat. Their replacement sensei came in before long and all the gennin began to grow quiet.

The sensei waited until it was completely silent to speak. "Due to circumstances that involved many different factors, I'll be assigning your squads instead of Iruka. He was supposed to give a speech about loyalty and all that jazz, but since he's currently out cold and we don't know if he had any notes, I'm just here to give you your team assignments. Any questions?"

Yamanaka Ino stood up, "Yeah, what happened to sensei?"

"I can't answer that right now. Are there any other questions?"

This time it was Naruto, "Why can't you tell them what happened? They're going to find out sooner or later anyways."

Everyone in the room was silent for a moment before the instructor replied, "You know why, Naruto. The information you attained last night is something that cannot be discussed without the Hokage's permission."

A dead silence ensued. No one was sure what had really just been said, but a very silent Naruto replaced himself in his seat. He knew now that the reason that no one could know the story was because Mizuki had told him about the demon fox inside of him. He hadn't told Getsuubi that part yet, and had planned to tell him later. Now he wasn't so sure.

Before the silence became a problem, the sensei spoke again, "I guess there aren't any more questions. So I'll get your senseis now." With that he exited the room, returning a few minutes later to still find the class silently staring towards Naruto. Each of them wanted to know how he was involved, but no one wanted to be the first to ask.

Only three of the jounins had shown up, but that was enough as the instructor once again spoke out. The gennin turned to listen to him. "Teams will be as follows. Team seven, under Kakashi Hatake, the absent jounin, will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura," A loud cheer was heard from the pinkette, followed by the thunk of Ino's head on the desk. "And Naruto Uzumaki." Another dead silence followed, though this one was interrupted by Sasuke.

"Well, at least I know one of my team is decent." Sakura immediately looked up hopefully, but almost fainted when she realized that the black haired boy was looking up and past her. "Hey, Naruto. It's good to have you."

This surprised everyone in the class, but Naruto just sat and smiled. "Good to have you too, Sasuke. Maybe you can help me brush up a bit on my control of chakra?"

His question went unanswered as the sensei interrupted, " Pipe down. Team eight is under Kurenai Yuuhi. You are Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino."

At this a loud groan was heard from Kiba, but nothing else was said.

"Team ten will be with Sarutobi Asuma. Your team consists of Nara Shikamaru, Ino Yamanaka," Her head was once again heard hitting the desk. "And Akamichi Chouji." This time a strangled sob left her.

Those close to her heard her whisper, "I'm stuck with the lazy one and someone I barely know, I'll never get a chance at Sasuke."

The instructor paused for a very long time, and eventually Getsuubi stood up and asked, "Sensei, if they are all assigned to a team, I would assume that Anko-sensei is my teacher, but who is on my team?"

A laugh was heard that startled everyone. It came out of the only jounin that hadn't been mentioned yet.

"I've seen what you can do with what you've been given, give you a little while and you could probably walk around with two of you by your side twenty four hours a day. I think your damn capable of handling yourself, don't you?" the purple haired kunoichi asked him directly.

"Y-yes, sensei." Was all she got as a reply.

Each of the teams filtered out with their sensei except for Naruto's group and Getsuubi, along with Anko.

"Hey, Naruto, Sasuke, you still want to meet later at Ichiraku's?" the gray eyed genning asked.

"Yeah, see you there, Getsuubi."

"Hn, yes. I'll be there."

Getsuubi's lips twitched a little, then he turned to his sensei as she spoke.

"Come on ki... Getsuubi. We've got a lot to accomplish before you can get off the hook." The look in her eyes as she spoke told him that her slip wasn't meant to be there, it's just what she was used to calling anyone younger then her.

He nodded and followed her out.

As they walked along, Getsuubi studied his sensei further. She was taller than him, but that was easy at this point in his life, most of the new gennin were taller than Getsuubi,. The only one that was shorter was Naruto, and he wasn't more than an inch behind the gray eyed boy. Her hair looked like a sort of grayish purple, with a knot done in the back of it that made the tail spike out around the back of her head. The biggest anomalies were her choice of attire and her eyes. Her eyes held a lot of the same pain that Naruto and he had, but they didn't hide it as well. Her clothes were far from what you would expect for a kunoichi too. She wore a pair of shirt and shorts that were standard metal mesh, just like Getsuubi's own undershirt. Over that she wore a medium length tan trench coat and a skirt that in Getsuubi's opinion invited trouble with it's lack of length. At least that was his opinion, he could be wrong. The only other thing that caught his eye were the greaves she wore over her standard blue shinobi shoes. They weren't something most shinobi wore, but they could have their uses.

As he studied them further, he felt that there were eyes other than those of the crowd upon him, and looked up to see that his sensei was also appraising him.

"You like what you see, boy? Or are you just wondering why I choose to dress strangely?"

"Neither sensei. Your wardrobe is your choice, and I don't find women attractive as others do. The opposite sex is not a piece of meat to be ogled and sought after like some sort of prize. I was simply trying to figure out if the greaves were to compliment your taijutsu or if they were for protection from one of your own techniques. The other option is that you leave your shins unprotected while casting some of your jutsus." He replied smoothly, almost coldly.

Again Anko was taken aback by this boy. Most of the opposite sex, no matter their age, would ogle her, but here was this boy, who seemed to really not care about such things, and he was analyzing everything about her.

"I'd also like to know why you keep your kunai pouch inside of your coat. It would seem impractical in a fight." Getsuubi said, as he realized that the silence from his sensei only grew longer.

Anko, realizing that the boy wanted and answer now, stopped and turned to him.

"For someone your age, you must not have many friends to have developed such analytical skills. I-" She was interrupted by her student.

"I have only one friend, Uzumaki Naruto. I would greatly appreciate it if you do not bring up such subjects again."

"As I was saying, I wear the greaves to compliment my taijutsu. My kunai pouch is inside my coat because I don't often use anything in it. When I do, I usually have time to draw it out before anything happens. I rely mainly on my jutsus."

"I see." Was her only reply.

They continued walking until they came to Konoha's gates.

"Sensei, why are we leaving Konoha?" Getsuubi asked.

"I was already informed of your main abilities and it's drawback by the Hokage. If we are to train as I want to, then we need to be in a place where you can go all out without fear of hurting the village. I take it that is why you left on a great many occasions in the past. Correct?"

"Yes, sensei."

"Good. Now... Ok what the hell do I call you?" Anko stopped just outside of the gates and turned on him.

"You can call me anything that doesn't imply stupidity or childishness." The blonde stated.

"So what in the hell do I call you? I don't want to call you Getsuubi all the time. It's long and annoying. I can't just call you Get, or Suubi, or baka, or kid or anything else though, either." She threw up her hands in frustration.

"Until you come up with a decent name then, you may call me what Keshai does. Little man. However, for your information, I would greatly appreciate a different name soon. On another note, do not ever put the suffix 'kun' on my name. That would imply that you like me. I do not want to be liked." The blonde boy sounded sullen for the first half, and forceful the more he talked. He sounded like he hated it.

"Ok, Little man. Why do you hate 'kun' so much?" Anko asked.

"Ichiraku Ayame is the only one who can get away with it, and that is because Naruto and her have coerced me into not getting angry because of it. In return, I call her 'chan'. It irritates her, but she understands that it is my way of returning the favor. Now, if you don't mind, I think you said there was a lot I had to do 'before I could get off of the hook'. I'd like to get it done because I do not want to be late tonight."

Anko led him further away from the village to the clearing where Getsuubi usually practiced his techniques. "We're here. As far as what I want you to do before we are done for the day, I want you to show me everything you can do without... Going overboard."

Getsuubi immediately formed his bloodline handsign and grew twelve full bodies of himself. Each one formed the handsign and grew an extra four arms.

"This is as far as I can go so far with my abilities. If I cut back by two bodies I can place a full set of eight arms on each body." He said.

"What happens if you were to put more arms on them right now?" the purple haired kunoichi asked.

"I would lose my mind and destroy everything around me until I either ran out from chakra exhaustion or I got control of myselves."

"You make it sound like there are more than one of you."

Another one of the boy before her answered her, "We are all one person, just many bodies. Each one of us is completely independent of the original, yet we are all part of the original." At that all of them melted and returned to the original. "What I'm about to do, no one has seen besides Naruto. He's only seen it once. The Hokage knows that I can do it, but has never seen it. Ready a kunai, sensei." With that the blonde formed his handsign and formed another body, standing right next to the first. "Now, chose a body, and stab it through the heart." They said in chorus. "It would be best for this demonstration to kill the original."

Anko looked shocked. He was asking her to kill him! "What do you mean!?" she asked, alarmed. "You want me to kill you?"

"Exactly, but if you won't do it," the one that was a clone pulled a kunai from the pouch on his hip, "Then I will do it for you." With that the clone stabbed his duplicate in the heart and watch as is hit the ground and dissolved into a puddle of flesh.

Anko just stood in shock. "How the fuck are you still standing if your a clone?"

"It's simple. All of us are one being. So long as there is one of us that lives through a battle, we will survive." The boy bent down and put his hand into the mass of dead flesh, watching as it was absorbed. He clutched at his heart right before it was complete, grimacing I pain until there wasn't any of the original body left behind, then he straightened and looked at his sensei in the eye. "I can pick them up and repair the body and use it as another clone later. That is my bloodline."

Silence reigned in the clearing for almost ten minutes, neither one moved.

"Would you like to see my other abilities Anko-sensei? I promise that none of them are as vulgar as what you just witnessed." Anko watched the boy as he spoke, noting the devious smile that appeared for a split second on his face at the word vulgar.

"Yes, please continue." She barely got the phrase out before she went to sit with her back against a tree and watch. Outside of his bloodline, he could use Kawarimi very well and the regular Buunshin. It was when he used henge that he again acted strange.

"Sensei, there is something I want to show you about this." He held up his hand, indicating his transformation. He looked like a thirty year old man, well toned muscles and completely clean shaven, even his head was shaved. The man looked to be about a foot taller than Getsuubi.

As Anko approached him, the man made a motion towards his head. "Please, slap me."

It was the weirdest request she had ever heard barring the gray eyed boys earlier request. She did as she was asked, and was surprised when her hand encountered what felt like flesh.

"What is this?" she asked quietly.

"This is mine and Naruto's. We couldn't do a normal henge to save our lives, so we found a way to make it solid. It was risky, and I nearly destroyed my clone that I was having work on it once, but we got it down now."

"So you mean Naruto can do this too?" She asked, surprised that they have figured out how to turn chakra into something solid so easily.

"Yes. That is all I know how to do at this point, they never taught us anything more at the academy." Getsuubi said.

"Alright, how good are you at taijutsu?"

"Take your stance," Getsuubi dropped his henge and formed four extra arms, "and prepare to defend yourself. I wasn't kidding when I said I would try to whip your ass." With that he launched at her, using everything he had.

The spar lasted for almost two hour before both combatants lay on the ground, completely exhausted. Getsuubi had multiple bruises up and down his body, but with that many arms he was constantly hitting and defending all at once.

Anko looked just as bad, except that she had a few more bruises than Getsuubi did, even with the extra help of the greaves she had bruises all over her body.

"You're not bad, Little man. Where did you learn?" She asked when she had caught her breath. She looked over at him and realized that he was already calm and sitting up crosslegged.

"I taught myself. The style has no name, and no real basic mechanics. It's all about hitting fast, defending while you're there, and getting away before they can gather themselves too much. May I go now? You've tested everything I know." He asked very pointedly.

Realizing that she had probably already made him late with her many hours of questions and sparring, she let him go.

"Be back her bright and early tomorrow." She called as he left.

She didn't hear a reply.

**AN:** That took a lot to write, so I really like the people out there reading this are enjoying it. Those of you who read it and Fav/Com/Rev are awesome and I really appreciate it. I hope you like this chapter as it is really starting to kick off into a good story. Hopefully I'll get up the next Chapter inside a week, but I'm never sure when I can upload.

Anyways, that aside, I'm doing the best I can as far as keeping up with where I want to go, but my muse is killing me to get back to my other story too. I might go to it for a little while and then come back to this. Who knows? Either way, I'll see you guys next chapter.


	5. No Matter What

**Ichiraku Ramen: Ten minutes after he left Anko**

It hadn't taken him long to get there, but as he did, he noticed that Naruto and Sasuke weren't there. He started to think that maybe they had already eaten and were searching for him when he saw them wearily trudging down the street.

"Oi, you're sensei not go easy on you or something?" He called.

They all went into the ramen bar and sat. Each ordered a bowl of ramen before Sasuke began to elaborate on their day.

"We sat in the room for another half an hour after you left. This guy sticks his head in, tells us to meet him on the roof, and then disappears. We get up there, and then we're supposed to tell him our names, what we like and don't like, and what our dreams are. Sakura got him to go first, and all we really got was his name."

After this Sasuke received his ramen, thanked Ayame, and began eating. Naruto took over telling the story.

"Sakura pretty much made it clear that her entire world revolves around our Sasuke-teme here." He playfully jabbed Sasuke in the ribs as he said it, and the other boy just pretended to glare at him before he smiled, shrugged and went back to his food. "And then our prince here," That earned him an elbow in the ribs. "Ow. Alright, then Sasuke told him his name, that he didn't really have many likes, but he didn't like his fan club and the feeling of a piece of meat up for auction. And his dream was to be a great shinobi so that he could avenge his clan and destroy a 'certain someone'." Naruto made air quotes and made a face like he was trying not to roll his eyes. "After that I stood up, and told him my name and how I was going to be the best Hokage ever..." His voice trailed out for a second as his face became downcast. "Sakura laughed when I said that."

Sasuke had finished his ramen and patted Naruto on the back before he pointed in front of the blonde. "Eat that, or else I will." As Naruto and Getsuubi dug into their ramen, Sasuke kept the tail going. "Sakura had to open her trap and bad mouth Naruto at that point, and when both of us started looking disgusted she gave up and sat down. Kakashi-sensei looked at all of us for like ten minutes before he finally said something about meeting him at training ground seven in five minutes." Sasuke sighed and rubbed his eyes. " The only one that made it was our prankster here." He made a motion towards the blonde between him Getsuubi. "I made it a ways behind him, and Sakura made it almost ten minutes after we were told to be there. By that time Kakashi was holding two bells and said that whoever didn't get one before five o'clock was going to be tied to the post for the night and would be unable to continue being a gennin."

Naruto looked up from his noodles. "Sasuke and I managed to get the bells after a ton of work, and more than a little pain." Naruto rubbed his backside and muttered. "He wasn't kidding about that name, 'a thousand years of pain." He winced as he touched a particularly sore spot. " But anyways, we got the bells off of him, and Sakura got tied up until Sensei said we could go. When Sasuke and I didn't leave, he wanted to know 'why'?"

Sasuke took back over as Naruto was slurping at the remains of the broth in the bowl. "I told him that we have to work as a team. We can't leave one of our own behind no matter what. I guess because of that he cut her loose and said that we were the first ones to ever pass his little test. We were supposed to do it tomorrow morning, but he thought that since we were fighting earlier that he could break us up."

Getsuubi realized that he'd eaten several bowls of ramen by the time the story was told. When asked if he wanted another, he held up a hand. "No thank you, Teuchi-san." He proceeded to tell the other two boys about his day with Anko, although he did leave out the killing himself and the bits about the solid henge. He didn't need to avenger coming to him to learn things that he couldn't possibly do in his lifetime.

Naruto, being a block-head, asked in the middle, "Did you show her that thing that you can do with your clo-!?"

His question was cut off as Getsuubi's hand slammed against his mouth. "Yes. She was repulsed, and slightly interested." He continued his story, and everyone in the stand got a good laugh out of his detailing of the taijutsu fight. Getsuubi made it sound like he all the crap beat out of him, but just as he got into the middle of particularly good part, he was interrupted by a feminine voice coming from outside.

"You know, if you keep downplaying yourself like that, I'm not going to be your sensei anymore alright?"

Getsuubi froze. "Sorry, Anko-sensei. But to me that is how it seemed."

Anko stuck her head in so she could make eye contact with the gray eyed boy. "As you can see," She swept a hand over her battered body. "He got his fair share of shots in. With a little bit more work, I'm fairly sure that he'll be as good as Rock Lee at taijutsu." The short haired student blushed a little at the compliment, but otherwise remained stoic. "The only thing this boy really needs is more jutsu under his belt and he could be a chuunin in no time." Anko turned and left a very stunned silence behind her.

Getsuubi picked up his story before long, but it had a few more accounts of his accomplishments peppered throughout.

As the boys finished, Naruto pulled out Gama-chan and placed the money on the counter for the copious amounts of ramen that they had consumed. It left his little froggy wallet a lot lighter than it had been, but according to the blonde, "It's all good. Believe it! It's the least I could do for you guys being there when I needed you yesterday."

They walked about a block before the Emo-king was surrounded by his fanclub. Each one of them shoved Naruto and Getsuubi further and further from him, till at last they stood behind the small crowd watching. Sasuke looked over his shoulder, shrugged, and threw a hand up in a pathetic wave before he jumped to the nearest rooftop. His posse quickly following him.

The gray eyed boy turned to his friend. "I guess he's got pretty much all the girls in this village after him, so who are you..." His question faded into oblivion as he noticed a blue haired kunoichi peering at them from around a corner nor far down the road. "Stay right here. I'll be back in a minute ok?"

Without a worry about his friends pout, he quickly jumped up to the rooftops and dropped down behind the startled girl.

"Who are you? And why do I keep seeing you watching Naruto. I know it's you that sometimes comes and watches him sleep at night. I've seen you. Now, answers. Who are you?" Getsuubi had been curious for quite some time, but he had never been interested enough to ask before now.

"I-I'm Hinata." The girl spoke so quietly that the blonde only just heard her.

"You mean, Hyuuga Hinata? That Hinata?"

She didn't trust herself to speak, so she just nodded.

"Hmm... I'm curious. Aren't you the one that always faints if Naruto gets even close to you?"

Another nod, this time followed by a very red blush staining the girls cheeks.

"You ought to find a way to talk to him, instead of passing out. You know that right?"

Hinata just about dropped her jaw to her knees. Here was this boy, saying that she ought to talk to Naruto. Like it was nothing.

"You ought to know," The blonde winked as he said the next part. "All the ranting he does about Sakura is more for attention than because he really actually likes her. If you talked to him, I think you would find him to be quite receptive. Besides myself, all he has is the Uchiha."

With that said, he took the Hyuuga heiress gently by the arm and led her out towards Naruto. He stopped a little ways away, and beckoned his friend to come a little closer.

"Naruto, you remember Hinata, right? From the academy?"

"The weird quiet girl... You mean that's who's hiding behind you?"

Getsuubi face-palmed at his friends description of her. "Yes, that one. Though you ought to at least try to be nicer to her."

"Sorry, Hinata." the loud-mouthed blonde called. He came to stand a little close and moved so he could see the shy girl around his friend. "You know, I actually kind of like that about you though."

The effect this simple line had on Hinata was amazing. She grabbed onto the back of the gray eyed boys shirt and tried to bury her smile in it. However, she didn't faint, which was good in Getsuubi's book. He held up a hand to stop Naruto's further advances, and mouthed 'Take it slow.' Contrary to popular belief, Naruto wasn't stupid. He stopped where he was and waited until Hinata had looked up again.

She saw him standing there with his trademark grin plastered on his face, looking for all the world like he was the happiest kid on the planet. The longer she looked though, the more she could see the little signs, the ones that she'd picked up on over time. The tautness of his muscles, the way his eyes were completely closed, and the way that he seemed ready to run. It was all still there, just slightly less noticeable than normal. Getsuubi seemed to give the boy a sense of security, and it was enough that when Naruto once again peeled his eyes open, she noticed that some of pain was once again visible in them.

She realized that she had been staring, and looked down at her feet quickly as she released the other blonde boys shirt.

"Hey, Hinata... Do you think maybe you and I could... train together tomorrow? You me and Getsuubi maybe?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"S-sure, N-Naruto-kun. I w-would e-e-enjoy that very m-much." She blushed a deeper shade of red each time she stuttered, but Naruto didn't notice. He was too busy staring off down the street where Sasuke had run.

"Oh, and maybe Sasuke would like to join us too. If his fan-club will let him go that long." Naruto smiled ruefully at the thought. He turned back and noticed that Getsuubi was staring up at the sky with a very slight smile. "Hey, Getsuubi. You going back to the bar tonight?"

Hinata frowned at this, and studied the boy beside her. He realized why she was looking at him and placed his hand on her shoulder as he turned to face her. "An old man who has almost adopted me runs a bar in the red light district. I go to help him a lot of the time, and when I do he provides me with a place to sleep." He let go when the pale eyed girl nodded and turned back to his fellow blonde. "I'll catch you later, and if you dump your crap on the couch again you're in for a nasty wake up call."

This brought a smile to Naruto's face as he called his goodbyes and ran off towards his apartment.

The remaining blonde turned and offered his arm to the girl beside him. As she linked her arm through his, she stared at where her crush had run.

"Don't worry about him, Hinata. He's ok once you get used to his antics."

She nodded, and they started walking. Hinata was gently leading the way.

"I a-assume you were w-walking me home, yes?" She asked quietly.

"That was the general idea. I know you can make it, but it is polite to walk a lady home."

Being well versed in etiquette seemed strange to her, at least coming from a boy who was friends with Naruto. She asked where he had learned.

"Naruto acts like he doesn't have manners because it's all part of the daily routine. Don't be fooled. He and I both learned our manners from Keshai, so they are a little rough around the edges, but we know most of the basics. I only choose to employ them sometimes. Other times I don't because I don't feel like it."

Both of them kept walking in silence until they reached the Hyuuga compound. Getsuubi released his arm from hers and turned to leave.

"Th-thank you, Getsuubi." Hinata called.

The blonde stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Don't mention it. See you at training ground seven tomorrow after team excercises are over. Good night, Hinata." He returned his face to a forward position and kept walking. It's not that he didn't like her, he just didn't really care about his personal relationships with other people. Very few people actually knew much about him, and he preferred it that way. Naruto knew pretty much everything about him, but Getsuubi knew just as much about his only real friend.

Getsuubi knew that Naruto valued any sort of contact with other people that didn't involve them being mean, cruel, demeaning, or obscene. He even valued his contact with the Uchiha. Getsuubi did not envy his friend, the gray eyed boy did not want friends. Naruto knew that about him. The walking boy knew that his blue eyed friend had a very very hard young life. Even with the extra help that the Hokage of the Leaf had given him, he still had it worse than Getsuubi. At the age of four, on Naruto's birthday no less, the two of them had been playing in the park and when they had walked towards Naruto's apartment for the evening they had found it burning. Needless to say that is how he had learned of Getsuubi's living conditions.

Getsuubi ceased his reminiscing as he started climbing the stairs of Naruto's apartment building. Most of the place was empty and decrepit, but it was a place that the landlord seemed indifferent to Naruto's existence so long as the rent was payed. It probably helped that there were only two other people who would rent from him, so he was just happy to have the money. Getsuubi banged on Naruto's door three times and waited as he heard his blonde block-headed friend come and undo the locks.

The door opened and the ever angry face of Getsuubi stood looking into the foxy grin of Naruto.

"Well, get in here. I'm not going to stand here all night. I've got to keep working on my project."

The gray eyed boy listened to his friend and entered. He dumped his back pack on the couch and wandered into the kitchen to see a large pot boiling on the stove.

"Haven't you got the broth right yet? You've been at this for like a year now." He said.

"Yeah, I got that part down, now I need to finish correcting the noodles. Once I've got that down, it's just down to finding the finishing touches before I give the recipe to Ayame-nee-chan."

"I see." Getsuubi stated flatly. He made some instant ramen and sat down at the table, observing his friend bustle around trying to finish his "Ultimate Ramen Surprise". The short haired blonde had to admit, Naruto could make almost anything look appatizing, and the taste was even better. The other blonde in the room, having had to live on his own as long as either of them could remember, had adapted and learned to cook quite well. He just ate ramen all the time because it was easier to obtain. His friend wasn't allowed in most places, even though he wasn't directly discouraged.

Once Naruto had ceased his activities for the evening, both of them returned to the living/bedroom and prepared to go to bed. Getsuubi stripped down until he was just wearing his pants and lay down under a blanket on the couch. Naruto had already gotten under his covers, but was still sitting up with his knees pulled up to his chin. Getsuubi waited. He knew that when his friend was acting like this he had something he wanted to talk about.

"Getsuubi, you're my friend right?"

Getsuubi's eyes got a little bigger, but he answered quickly. "Hai, Naruto. Always. Why do you ask?"

The silence stretched between the boys for quite some time. Anyone else would have thought that Naruto had fallen asleep, but he was trying to figure out how to say this.

"Well... If something were to have happened to me in the past... Something horrible. Something that is still part of me. Would it change that?"

"Naruto."

His friends head turned, and Getsuubi sat up and looked over at him.

"You are my friend. And I don't give a damn. You are you, unless it's something that is going to force you to become someone totally different than you are now, that will not change. No matter what."

It seemed to give the obnoxious blonde some comfort, and he looked back down and got quiet as he let his secret spill.

"The reason that all the villagers hate me... I found out what it was." Getsuubi again felt his eyes getting big. "When the Yondaime Hokage fought the Kyuubi, he didn't kill it. He sealed it into me."

This time the silence was almost loud.

After several awkward minutes of processing what he had just been told, Getsuubi stood. This caused Naruto too seem afraid his friend was going to leave, but he just walked over and put an arm on the blue eyed boys shoulder.

"I'm glad you told me, Naruto. And I'll always be here if you need someone to talk to about it." At that Getsuubi released his friend's shoulder and stood. "No matter what." He said that with as much conviction as he could. Naruto just smiled at his friends back as he watched him return to his spot on the couch. He had nothing to fear. Getsuubi was a loyal friend. Just like he said, no matter what, he would always be there.

**The next morning**

Naruto's alarm went off, and he rolled over and slapped the top of it, turning the offending beeping off. He rolled out of bed as his attention was quickly drawn to the shaking form on the couch. He jumped up and ran over to Getsuubi, kneeling beside his friend.

He then remembered to take a step back, and shouted, "Oi, Getsuubi! Get up!"

His friend immediately rolled off of the couch and landed on the floor, perched on his hands and toes. He surveyed the room before he relaxed.

"You doing ok Getsuubi?" Naruto asked as he studied his friend.

"No. The damn nightmares don't allow me to sleep soundly."

Naruto nodded and motioned towards the other boys backpack as he spoke again. "Wasn't there something in that sealing scroll Jiji-san gave you back when that was supposed to help with that?"

"Yeah, it's in there. I just don't want to use any of it unless I'm out of the village and need to rest badly." Getsuubi had indeed opened the scroll. It had just been longer than he'd thought. He wanted to open it after his first year at the Academy, but every time he was going to, he'd suddenly decided to wait a little longer. It had lasted like that for almost two more years. Towards the end of his third year, he'd finally gotten enough nerve to force his chakra into the seal on the scroll. What had come tumbling out had completely stunned the gray eyed boy.

Four long swords in two sets of sheathes that made the letter "X". Both of them looked liked they could be connected in the middle so that one set of handles would sit above his shoulders and the others would sit over his hips. One set of sheaths had clasps that looped around the crossguard of their set of swords. The swords themselves each had several seals on them. After making several trips to the library and other resources, Getsuubi had assertained that one seal on each blade kept it sharp. Another was a rust barrier. Yet another was a reinforcement seal, and this took up almost the lower half of the blade. It was because of this, he had found out, that the swords were nearly unbreakable. The grip of each sword was wrapped in slightly worn brown leather. Even though those in and of themselves were of great worth, there was still a large amount of other things in that scroll.

There was a set of two shorter katanas that were attached to a broad leather belt. These too had the seals on them. The belt itself had four metal studs on it, one where his right hand would hover, One underneath the sheath for the katanas the held it one, and the other two were underneath the ends of the sheath, made so that no matter what hand was dominant you would hang a kunai pouch on it. After removing the katanas and the sheath, Getsuubi had begun to wear the belt.

The stud under the right side was made to hold a special combat blade. This one, Getsuubi later learned, came with a scroll. If you pumped the seal on the blade with chakra, you could reinforce the blade to be as dense as you wanted. You could make it so it would pass right through your hand without harm, or you could made it dense enough that if you dropped it the blade would sink several inches into the ground. This also had the same seals on the blade as the swords did.

As he'd continued to search through his new found treasures and wealth, Getsuubi had come across several small containers of some sort of salve. All of these had come with a single scroll explaining their purposes. One would help him sleep dreamlessly, another would heal any burn, another would cure most basic poisons, and so on. He'd kept all of these in a separate sealing scroll since then.

There were a few scrolls that came out of the seal, these detailed the basic katas for a fighting style called the Bludgeon. It was a clan secret, passed to him. He hadn't tried to learn it yet, but in his glance through it he found that he had instinctively mastered a few of the kata already. The other scrolls detailed some of his clan history. These he put away for another time. He didn't want to know about his clan yet.

All that was left after this was another arm band, just like his. Attached with ninja wire was a note. It said,

"This was your father's. His name was Maruki. It was the only piece of him that we could pass on to you. The symbol on this is your clans. Do not forget what you are, the son of, and of, the Warrior."

The scrawl was untidy, and it looked like it had been written in haste, but Getsuubi had clutched it to his chest. It was all he had of his family.

After realizing that his mind had drifted back to that day, Getsuubi shook himself and began to get ready for his day. He decided to strap his combat blade onto it's stud. He hadn't had it yesterday, so he was going to have to show his sensei that he could also use it in a fight.

As both boys left the apartment, they realized it was going to be a long second day of a new career.

**AN: **Ok, so this got the ball rolling on several different subjects. If you haven't figured it out yet, I've changed a lot of different things about the original story. I'm trying to keep Hinata somewhat close to canon, but she's going to be changing some in future. Sasuke isn't such a tightwad asshole. Anyways, thank you to all of you who Fav/Fol/Rev. It really brightens my day when people do that.

On another note you'll notice that I had to backtrack a little bit and add the part about how he only opened the sealed scroll the Hokage gave him after his third year. This was on purpose.

I'll see all of you who read this story, next chapter.


	6. Broken Trust

**1 Year later**

Getsuubi walked down a street of Konoha alongside his sensei, Anko.

"You know, Blondie, now that we've got our required number of D-ranks out of the way you can move on up right?"

"I know, Anko-sensei. If it's all the same to you I'd prefer to wait and take mine at the same time as Naruto. They may be two totally different missions, but with the way everyone has been treating him, I'd rather not make him feel like I too, am leaving him behind."

All of the conversations over the past year between sensei and student were practically the same. Sure they had different materials, but both Anko and Getsuubi preferred short and to the point. The boy had only grown a few inches in the past year, still leaving hims at just a few inches above his sensei's shoulders. As they entered the Hokage's office, he almost regretted waiting for his friend. Only almost.

"Mission complete, Hokage-sama. The fences in the Uchiha compound have been completed." Anko reported.

"Good. I notice that you are now qualified for C-ranked missions. Should I aquire one for you tomorrow?"

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, I will make the same request of you I made of my sensei. Please wait until Naruto receives his first C-rank. I do not with for him to believe that I am leaving him behind." Getsuubi said before Anko answered.

Sarutobi showed a small smile and nodded. "They'll probably have one within a week. Naruto knows you only have to do so many D-ranked missions before you can do any C-ranked. I'm sure he knows they have almost completed enough of them. He'll harass Kakashi into taking a better mission soon."

Anko looked at Getsuubi after they were dismissed. She had to admit that the boy may not have grown much physically, but his prowess had grown exponentially. He learned to do the tree climbing exercise with ease, had done a fair bit of water walk, but hadn't completely mastered it yet, and had started to learn how to do the leaf exercise along with his tree climbing. He had learned all of the katas for his family's taijutsu and had added some of his own. This had caused him to beat her on any occasion of a taijutsu only spar. His combat blade, which he named "Saezon" (In a lost language, it meant "War hero") he had also learned to manipulate it's makeup so that he could form gauntlets and bracers out of it using one of his techniques, he could also augment the gauntlets and add serrated blades sticking out of the knuckles. (Think like Wolverine, but with four blades and the edges have large serrations) These he used to further augment his Bludgeon style. As for Ninjutsu, he had learned how to use Kage Buunshin, from Naruto of course, and Earth Style: Mud Wall, Earth Style: Mud Spikes, The headhunter jutsu, along with a few other earth techniques such as Earth Style: Mud Clone.

He had also learned how to use all four of his swords from Tenten. However, getting him to train alone with her had taken almost a weeks worth of the most vile threats Anko and Naruto could come up with. Every time he showed up at training ground seven after team exercises and missions Naruto would hound him about getting the nerve to talk to a girl. This wasn't the real reason he was reluctant to learn from her. It was because any time he associated with her, she would blush and try to find an excuse to keep hanging around him. Once he relented and began training, he found that she was strictly professional so long as there were weapons in hand. His evenings after his practices were spent training his chakra control by tree climbing and the leaf exercise, or outside the village, furthering his control over his bloodline.

Anko thought back to what he could do before and compared to what he could do now. If she had to choose a single word to describe it, she would have said amazing. The blonde could now control nearly twenty, four armed versions of himself without losing control, and could control another ten, three armed versions. Each and every one of them could us his kenjutsu and ninjutsu to the fullest for the same amount of time he could, which amazed her. It was like it didn't even cost him chakra to make the clones. She had found, much to her chagrin during training, that if he created a clone, it had the same level of chakra that he had before he created it. This meant that if he did it right, he could basically fight forever without running out of chakra.

As she watched the gray eyed boy walk towards training ground seven, she couldn't have been more impressed with accomplishments to date. If only she knew what the future held.

As he entered the training grounds, Getsuubi instinctively ducked his head, and was rewarded by the sound of air rushing past as Hinata once again tried to ambush him. This had become daily routine for him. Once he had evaded her for nearly ten minutes, he, Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke all met in a clearing among the trees.

"So, you beat up on Anko again today, or is that glint in your eye just because she promised you that you could help in T&I soon?" Naruto asked.

"A little of both. I take it by the grin I can see on your face that something good happened today." Suddenly his combat blade was twirling in his palm. "You going to spill, or do you need a little help?"

As if on cue Hinata appeared between them with a furious look on her face. "If you touch Naru-kun, I'll do more than just close your tenketsu next time Suubi-san."

As quickly as the blade came, it returned to it's sheathe. Hinata, realizing what she had just said, allowed her cheeks to color quite a bit before she sat down with a huff.

" Getsuubi, you really shouldn't do that to her." Sasuke spoke up.

"And you should cut your hair so that it doesn't look like a duck's butt. So, Naruto. What happened?"

"That's an easy one, Getsuubi. The teme here and I got into a taijutsu fight and when it came out to a draw Sakura kept whining that I cheated. She kept at it until Kakashi told her to shut up or she couldn't go on our first C-rank mission later this week. Needless to say, Sasuke and I got a break, and the banshee finally put a cork in it." Naruto replied.

The four of them couldn't be called friends really, Naruto was a friend to each of them. Hinata was a friend to Naruto and a person who Getsuubi liked to have around, and Sasuke was a friend to Naruto only. Getsuubi and him only spoke when they were around Naruto, other than that they did not like or dislike each other. The conversation continued until Getsuubi had to leave to go train with Tenten.

He stood up and dusted himself off. "Don't forget to walk the Lady Hyuuga home this time, Naruto. If I hear you forgot again, I'll personally see to it you don't get ramen for a week."

Sasuke smiled at that. "I'll even help him with that if I hear it." Both turned to look at Naruto with slightly evil grins on their faces.

"I-I won't forget again. P-promise! Believe it!" He hollered before he looked over at a laughing blue haired kunoichi. "Wait a minute..."

This caused the boys and Hinata to laugh all the harder, at Naruto's expense.

"You asked them to do that, didn't you, Hinata-chan?"

"Yes, Naru-kun. After you ran off yesterday I couldn't help but get them to help me out a little today. I'm sorry if I went to far..." She suddenly looked a little nervous before she saw the foxy grin on Naruto's face.

"It's ok, Hinata." He laughed. "I won't forget again. Sorry that I ran off so quickly, I just had a sudden bout of inspiration and needed to accomplish something before I forgot."

Getsuubi and Sasuke departed, waving their goodbyes.

"Do you think those two will every date?" Sasuke said, out of the blue.

"No." A shocked expression met his glance over his shoulder. "They won't date because Naruto cares for her more as a sister than as a partner, and she has realized that they are almost incompatible. Not to mention that though her father may like Naruto, Hiashe would rather not have him as a son-in-law later. So no, I don't see them dating."

"Hn." Was all he got for a response. Sasuke eventually wandered in the direction of his compound and Getsuubi continued walking toward his destination. As he walked, be dug his precious sealing scroll out and summoned his weaponry. The swords were now hung off of two broad leather belts sown together into an X shape that hung over his torso. It had a similar stud to the ones on the belt for mounting purposes, placed directly in the crossing pieces in the back. He placed the harness on himself and attached the swords to the stud. As he summoned his two short katanas and attached them to the stud on the back of his waist, he thought about his training, and the place where he did it.

Training ground 13.

As he neared it he smiled at most shinobi's unwillingness to train here. 13 was supposed to be an unlucky number, thus having a training ground 13 would mean that it would bring bad luck to train there. As Getsuubi and all of team Gai would tell you, it hadn't brought them any bad luck so far.

When he arrived, he found Tenten already doing the warm up katas with her swords. Having finally sat down and talked with him, and finding that Getsuubi could use all seven of his weapons, she had decided to learn how to use two swords so that she could actually provide him with a bit of a challenge. The gray eyed boy stood back slightly among the trees as he watched. He had to say that even though he didn't want to, he had grown a bit of attachment to the tomboyish kunoichi. Sure, she didn't let her social life and her training intermingle, but that was one more good thing about her.

His mind drifted to other things that he liked about her and by the time she finished her warm up and stuck both her swords into the ground, hilt up, he had actually come to the conclusion she could be called his friend. He watched her closely for a minute, and was a little shocked when he realized that she was looking around like she was making sure she was alone. Getsuubi decided it might be better to be seen now than caught watching later, just in case she wanted to be left alone for a specific reason.

She saw the blonde walking towards her, and she blushed a little bit.

"You're early, Getsuubi."

"You're stating the obvious," Getsuubi smirked. "again. Not that it's a bad thing, but aren't I always a little early?"

Tenten frowned and thought about it. "Yes, you are... I was just hoping you wouldn't be today..."

"If you want, we don't have to train today." Her reaction said it all. She didn't want him to go since he was here, but she had had something planned. "Or we can. It's up to you. Though I do wish you wouldn't make that sad face. It's ill befitting of a cute girl like you."

Tenten nearly lost her lower jaw it stunned her so much.

After about a minute of this, Getsuubi couldn't take it any more. "Is it really that surprising that maybe I am capable of lightening your mood a little bit by giving you a compliment?" He asked quietly. His voice held no irritation.

"N-no. I just didn't think anyone would ever think of me as cute. Let alone you..." She blushed again as she said the last part.

"I wouldn't let your mind wander too far right now, Tenten. Just because you've earned a slight affection from me does not mean anything."

The bun-haired kunoichi's head tilted down a little and she reached for her swords. It's not that she blamed the boy for immediately crushing her hopes, but she did want him to see her as more than just a sparring partner. Still, the fact that he had even complimented her had to mean at least a little something, right?

She was distracted as her hands had just touched the hilts of her swords by Getsuubi drawing two of his own blades.

"What, you think you're going to even the odds today?"

"No, I want to test something in the heat of the moment, and I'm going to have to get used to not always fighting using my abilities. It's not like I want to be under-prepared for a time when I'm ambushed."

A slight look of shock registered on Tenten's otherwise calm features, and her hands wrapped around the upright hilts tightly, making her knuckles white.

"And who, pray tell, would do that? Who would want to ambush you, Getsuubi?"

"I am the last of my clan, so others could want my bloodline. I am strong and will only become stronger, people will want me dead. I am a shinobi of Konohagakure, there are four other great villages that might want me for both of the aforementioned reasons. Also, I may fall pray to Missing-nin while I am outside the village walls. A shinobi's life is fraught with danger. You should know that by now." He replied. "Now shall we begin?"

Before he even finished speaking, the gray eyed boy leaped at her with both swords at the ready for a downward swing. Tenten's swords met his over her head as she was pushed down onto one knee. If she had not been training with him for some time, the force behind his blows would have come as quite a surprise. For his size, Getsuubi could put just as much force behind his blades as most fully grown men. When his feet hit the ground, he jumped back before dashing back in, this time with his left sword set to parry any offensive maneuver and his right held out for a feint at her left shoulder. She chose to try to block the incoming sword just as it changed from a swing at her shoulder, to one at her knee. She managed to perform a cross down parry and quickly rolled away from his other sword, pulling hers with her. As she righted herself, she realized that his timing had been near perfect. By forcing her to dive away, he opened a small frame of time that he could use to perform a jutsu or other offensive maneuver without being impeded, much like he was doing now.

Getsuubi had shoved both of this swords into the ground the instant she had begun her roll, and by the time she had regained her feet, he had pulled out Saezon and tossed it into the air just above his shoulder height. As she stood and turned to face him again, she saw his hands clap on either side of the blade as he yelled "Saezon: Gauntlets!" Very quickly the blade melted in his hands, and began rapping the metal around his hands and forearms to form a thick set of gauntlets. The weight didn't seem to bother the blonde in the slightest.

Tenten readied her weapons and watched warily as her opponent retrieved his swords, and did something she never expected. He put them back in their respective sheathes, and took a taijutsu stance.

"Getsuubi... Are you sure you wouldn't be handicapping yourself by doing that?" Tenten asked, still on guard.

"I'm quite sure. I could have either had time to form my bloodline, or I could have done this. Seeing as how we both know that if I pull out my bloodline and my other weapons, I will only lose to someone who is extremely skilled and specialized in kenjutsu, I decided I'd try this. Besides, I want to see how much these can take," he clanged his metal clad hands together for emphasis. "before they give out. This is what I wanted to try."

This time it was Tenten who rushed in as he finished speaking.

For the next ten minutes the surrounding forest was filled with the clang of metal against metal and the pants of the combatants. Finally, as both took a short breather to measure the other, both knew the fight was coming to a close soon.

Getsuubi regained his breath first and stood upright, holding his metal sheathed hands in a defensive posture. He could see that even though the metal was extremely dense, they still had a good number of very small dents and scratches covering them. He noted also that both of Tenten's swords had decent chunks dented and missing, making the blades appear ragged. To his eyes they looked like Tenten had been beating on boulders, which was not exactly far off.

As she recovered and looked up, she wasn't surprised to find Getsuubi waiting, analyzing, and preparing. She was about to reach her limits before she would at least have to run away for awhile to recover from the numbness in her arms. Noting that he was intently interested in the look of his gauntlets for a moment, she lunged with both swords pointed forward, confident that she could get a stroke in that would win her this match. She soon realized that the blonde hadn't moved yet, and the swords were getting perilously close to his abdomen. She continued with her lunge, still sure she could stop just before impact and force him to surrender.

There was a vicious clang. Blood found a new home in a small and shallow pool on the ground. Tenten stood there, stunned, as she watched it drip down... down... down... until it splashed and mingled with the rest on the ground.

Each of them stood there for nearly half a minute before Getsuubi withdrew his hands from her blades. Both of them clattered to the ground in pieces. He took a step back, revealing himself to be quite unharmed, and tried to understand what had just happened.

He studied his memories carefully. She had lunged while he was distracted. A fair chance, but he was quick enough to dodge and knew it. And then he saw it, clear as day. He'd jumped to the side at the last moment, reaching out and grabbing onto the blades of her notched swords with him gauntlets. They had changed the instant to his other version of them. His "Saezon: Shredders" had reached out and slashed the backs of his sparring partners hands. He couldn't remember calling to his blade to reform like that, and the instant that she had stopped moving, they had formed back into his normal gauntlets.

He looked up again, seeing Tenten's face for the first time. She was looking at her hands like they had betrayed her, as the blood leaked slowly out of their backs.

"W-what h-happ-pened? I mean y-you just..." Tenten sank to her knees, her gaze shifting onto Getsuubi's face. The gray eyed boy looked down in shame.

"I don't know..." He flexed his hands. "One moment I was avoiding your attack and attempting to remove your weapons and then... I can't say I don't know, I do... I just don't know how to say it..." A long pause followed as the boy struggled to find words. "My instincts took over. When I want to take a persons weapons it means that I have to make sure I take them away completely... I didn't mean to make the shredders appear... I'm sorry, Tenten..." He looked up at her.

The look in her eyes at that moment said it all. He had hurt her. The boy that she had grown to care for so much had just hurt her. She couldn't believe it. It stung Getsuubi to see that look and know that he had caused it. He turned away from her slowly, not letting his emotions show on his face.

"I truly am sorry." The next instant, he was gone. All she saw was his prized possession fall onto the ground. Like he couldn't bother to care about it anymore.

Saezon, one of the gray eyed boys few possessions, clanked as it came to rest on the earth. Other than this one shred, it was as if none of the boy had ever been there, he'd left no footprints or crushed grass anywhere in the clearing.

On some primal level, Tenten knew that he didn't plan on coming back to retrieve his blade. He may have held it dear to his heart, but this was his way of apologizing. He felt he owed her for the pain he had caused, even though in that brief moment of eye contact, the bun-haired girl realized she had hurt him just as deeply in a totally different way.

She stood and wrapped her hands as best she could and, not even bothering to retrieve the pieces of her own broken swords, went and took Saezon into her hands. She didn't totally understand why the boy had left it there, but she wasn't going to let him keep doing his missions without one of his basic tools. She resolved to give it back to him next time she saw him.

If only she knew where he was...


	7. How about a C-rank?

**Right after his disappearance**

He was running, just as hard and fast as he could. All any of the guards on the wall around Konoha saw was a dark gray and black streak flying along the inside of the wall. They knew who it was, because he had used this exercise before, but he had never pushed himself like this before.

This is just what he did when he needed to let off steam and decidedly not think for a while. He'd run, and run, until he couldn't run anymore, and then he would keep doing exercise until he passed out. He'd do it for a day straight unless someone or something stopped him, not that that ever happened.

After quite some time he realized that it was getting dark. He didn't want to see Tenten again, so he would have to avoid Naruto's and Keshai's for at least a few nights. Keeping this in mind he jumped onto a nearby roof and stayed up there until he reached Naruto's apartment. He peered inside, noticing Tenten was sitting on the couch. Naruto was in the kitchen making tea. The gray eyed boy slid off of the railing he had been perched on and very lightly rapped on the kitchen window. Naruto turned his head and met the eyes of the fellow blonde, before he nodded in understanding of what was going on. He'd obviously heard from the girl in the other room by now, so Getsuubi just nodded and left, quickly making his way to the red light district.

He entered Keshai's place from a window on the back of the bar. It dropped him down onto a landing on the stairs between the two floors. He padded down the stairs and waited there until Keshai noticed and wandered over to him discreetly.

"What's up Little Man? It's not often I see you skulking around anywhere."

"I've done something I regret. Someone by the name of Tenten may come looking for me to return something that no longer belongs to me. I do not wish to have her find me, and she knows from Naruto that I come here often to help you and sleep. I just wanted you to know about her and know that I won't be coming by for a little while. I'm going out on my first C-rank within the next couple of days, and I'm going to avoid anywhere besides my normal training grounds until I leave."

Keshai studied him for a minute before he patted the blonde on the shoulder. "I'll keep an eye out for her. She's the one with the buns right?" Getsuubi nodded. "Okay, take care of yourself Little Man. You come back in less than good condition and I'm not going to be happy."

"You got it Keshai-san. I'll see you later."

The boy returned up the stairs and out the window, and the old bartender returned to his work. He signaled Anko to come talk to him, a system they had set up not long after Getsuubi graduated.

"It's been a nice evening, eh?" Keshai asked.

"Sure has." She replied.

"You may wanna take a walk here soon, cause I know you can get rowdy the way you've been looking around." This was their tip that something was up and needed to be taken care of with their gray eyed underling.

"I think you may be right, Keshai-san. I don't want to cause any trouble." The purple haired kunoichi nodded and made her way leisurely out of the bar and down the road a ways before she took to the rooftops in search of her student. It didn't take her long to find him.

He'd settled in a park that was in the slums of town. Not exactly an ideal place, but a boy sleeping under a tree there would not come as a surprise to anyone.

She approached him slowly, checking that he was awake before she spoke.

"So, Blondie, what's eating you?"

"Shit happened. I hurt Tenten. Not just on the outside, but I think I hurt inside too. She looked at me like I'd betrayed her trust..." The boy shivered a little. "I didn't want my damned shredders, but it all happened so fast and my reflexes and and when I grabbed her swords... I cut up the back of her hands pretty bad, but I didn't want to... It was just supposed to be a spar... Not like hurting each other stuff... I left Saezon there when I took off. If I can't control the damned thing what good is it to me? I'm just going to hurt more people I don't want to, and maybe someday when I want it to do something, it won't." He ranted. "I don't deserve it if I can't control it. So she may as well take care of it. That's why I'm avoiding anywhere she might look... I don't want it back. Also, I really want out of the village for a while... Do you know how soon Naruto will be leaving?"

Anko was a little confused as to what all happened, but she thought she understood him enough. She thought about it for a minute.

"Come to the tower tomorrow, don't worry about training. I'll talk to Hokage-sama and see... Sleep well, Getsuubi." She called quietly as she turned to walk away.

She thought she heard him mutter something about "you wish" but she couldn't be sure and knew better than to force the issue.

Getsuubi lay propped against the tree, thinking. He created one of his clones, and soon was asleep. The clone, drawing what little energy it needed to watch over him through the thread between them, would watch for any threats, but would also make sure that his dreams would not get too wild and he would start thrashing again. Last time Naruto had had to douse him in water to wake him up.

The clone could see what was happening in Getsuubi's head, but chose to ignore when it started. The dreams that were in there right now weren't a cause for worry, and he knew that his original body needed it's rest to work. Besides, the beginnings of the nightmares were usually good at least.

This time it one of his nightmares that developed since he became a gennin.

**In the Dream**

Getsuubi opened his eyes. He was in a hut, probably somewhere along the road on the way to his destination. It didn't occur to him that he didn't know where he was going, he just knew where he was and what was going on. He rolled over, and realized that he and his sensei had shared a room last night. Anko hadn't worn much and as she slept, the blanket had slid down to about waist level, leaving her chest clad in only a bra.

Without being fazed, Getsuubi got up and pulled his shirt on, seeing as how he regularly slept with his pants still on. He was reaching for the door to go in search of breakfast when he heard a shuffling behind him.

"Morning, Anko-sensei." He called without turning his head.

"I don't know whether I should be offended or proud that you didn't stare Blondie. Most men would stare if they found an exposed woman asleep next to them."

"Would you rather I stared to make you feel better? You of all people know that I'm not a pervert. I like girls, but their not meat to be ogled like I'm some kind of starving dog. I was simply trying to be respectful." He said. Then he turned his head to look at her. "Would you like anything to eat, I'm headed out."

"Nah" She called as she got up. "I don't like much before we travel. Be ready in half an hour."

Getsuubi walked off and got food, returning to the place they were staying ten minutes early and sitting against a building to wait. He could have gone and gotten his sensei, but it just wasn't worth the effort right now. She'd bitch that he was too early.

Anko came out and saw him sitting there, motioned for him to follow her, and set off down the road at a brisk pace. The blonde observed that she didn't wear a backpack like she normally would have on an out-of-village mission, but it didn't seem to matter. He wasn't wearing his either.

About this time there was a little niggling thought at the back of his head that this scene wasn't right, running down the road without backpacks or extra supplies for the trip. His brain didn't let that thought in though, and soon he was absorbed by the happenings around him again.

Anko and he were headed down a narrow road along the side of a fairly good sized hill. The sheer dropoff on the downward side gave Getsuubi ideas of what could happen if they were ambushed here, but he was fairly sure that wouldn't happen. He and his sensei were just delivering a package to a family in Tea country from a relative in Konoha. A C-rank mission only because it was out-of-village.

Suddenly there was an explosion. The gray eyed boy was tossed further up the hill from the path, while Anko was blown forward into the arms of a waiting shinobi from Suna. As Getsuubi rolled and crawled to his feet he saw the man backing into rows of his men on the path. There were only about a dozen of them, but judging from their gear they were at best jounin, at worst they were Anbu level.

The blonde didn't even stop to think about it. His sensei, his link to a better life, was being taken. He wouldn't allow that. Getsuubi reached for his swords only to realize that all he had were his katana's and Saezon. He formed two more arms as he ripped the short swords from their sheathes and used them to summon his shredders.

As he bowled into the first man, who still stood there stunned, he severed the vertebrae of the man's back at stomach level with a quick forward thrust. His shredders worked furiously to defend him form the other shinobi's attacks as he pulled the sword free and engaged another man. This one had managed to draw his own katana, but as he went to block the blonde's right sword, the left slipped through and caught the man's eye, lodging in the back of his skull before it stopped. Getsuubi didn't have time to pull it free as on of the shinobi to his right had thrown a kunai. Leaving the sword in the body and leaping back, he managed to dodge the attack.

"Two down. Ten to go. **Fucking bring it! All of you!**" He screamed as he slammed his top hand down onto the top of his left lower hand. It melted into the gauntlet and formed another one on his upper hand, the shredders quickly following suit. Now with only a single sword, he charged at the nearest target, a man who carried some sort of strange sharpened loops. As the gray eyed boy engaged him, he didn't notice one of them come up behind him and stab his lower back, right next to his kidneys.

Getsuubi screamed. The pain drove him on, enfuriating him. He slashed back with his right lower hand, feeling it sink into flesh and feeling the weight leave the kunai in his back. He slashed forward with his remaining sword at the same time. He wasn't so lucky with that one. The man hooked his blade in the loop and pulled it from his hand. Getsuubi immediately started forming hand seals and slammed the ground "**Doton: Mud Spikes!**".

The jounin if front of him with the strange weapons was caught, effective impaling him. As blood spattered onto the the cheeks of the gray eyed boy, he turned to face the remaining eight members of the ambush party. He summoned two more arms, covering the three uncovered hands with his shredders.

They faced him, respect showing on their faces. Each one knew that he would have won almost any encounter if it had been even slightly fair. Good thing they had the upper hand.

Getsuubi dropped into a crouch as the group spread out around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just see the leader holding Anko with a kunai at her throat and another pointed just under her ribs. This further enraged the boy, and pretty soon silvery chakra was surrounding him in a thin veil. Each of the attackers took a turn trying to score a hit on their smaller opponent, yet each time they were met with the furious swiping of his claws and the snarling of a cornered animal. Suddenly each of them nodded and jumped at once.

Getsuubi saw the nods. He didn't know what they meant, but he hunkered down a little further. As each opponent simultaneously leaped at him, he realized that he didn't have time to form a defensive jutsu. They were moving too fast. He could defend against eight of them with only six arms. He realized at the same time that he didn't have time to form his other two arms and still equip Saezon to them also. His eyes narrowed in concentration as he focused all of his power into his last defensive option.

He started spinning with his arms held out, the claws facing so they would cut anything that came close. As the first enemy neared, Getsuubi gave a burst of speed in his spin, and managed to rid the world of one more these cowards. Two more were caught in his claws range before he lost his momentum and stumbled to the side, trying to avoid the other five enemies bearing down on him. He cried out as two of them managed to land body shots with their kunai before they pulled back and drew another weapon. One of the others managed to score a slash to the blondes calf, causing him to wince and limp as he stood to face them again.

Getsuubi couldn't take it anymore. The smell of the blood, theirs and his, was driving him mad.

"**Anko...**" He grated out as he felt the change start, "**Run... Now...**"

Suddenly the men standing before him became scared, why would he tell the trapped kunoichi to run? Their answer came sooner than they expected. Suddenly The boy before them glowed silver and disappeared. They heard a distinct gurgle behind them, and turned to see him standing with his shredders through the neck of their leader.

Right then and there they knew they weren't going to leave alive, but they were determined to kill their target. They ignored Anko running away as quickly as she could. The blonde stood there with his back turned for nearly a minute, but none made a move to kill him in that time.

Finally, he turned around, and time seemed to stop.

In the place of what was once a boy, all they saw was a demon. He had black irises with silver pupils. The other thing that gave them that impression was his silver aura and the smile on his face. It looked like he was a total maniac.

They took ready stances as Getsuubi leaped for them.

Several of them managed to make deep cuts into him before they died, but they all died within five minutes. For several more minutes Getsuubi trashed the entire area around him. He wanted more things to kill, to feel pain.

It took quite some time, but as he regained his senses, he came to see that during his rage, he had lost too much blood. His gauntlets reverted to their original knife form. The more he came to, the more dizzy and disoriented he felt. As he collapsed to his knees he saw one of the jounins crawl towards him. He had only one leg, the other had been ripped off, leaving a bloody stump. It looked like one of his hands was crushed, also, but he could still move.

Getsuubi managed to pull out a kunai as the man came closer. His enemy slashed at him and Getsuubi's arm didn't respond in time. He saw a gash that went from his pectoral muscle down to his stomach. As he topple forward he thrust his arm forward, shoving the kunai in his hand into the man's neck with the last of his strength.

As his eyes started to close, his body still aching, he saw Anko returning.

**In the Real World**

Getsuubi was shaking. His clone saw what was happening and tried to wake him about the time that Anko ran in the dream. It took him until Anko was returning to get the courage to hit his original in the face. As soon as he did, he got the same treatment, but he'd done his job, Getsuubi came out of his dreamworld and realized that he had dispelled his clone by nearly putting his fist through it's head.

Seeing that the sun was just starting to shine it's light in the sky, he got up and dusted himself off. Realizing that he should head to the Hokage's office, he stood and formed another of his clones.

"Naruto's apartment. You know what to do." He said.

He didn't even need to talk, but it always felt better to treat them like people instead of pieces of himself. He watched the thread of skin start to stretch out as he leaped to the top of the buildings and headed leisurely to Sarutobi's office, carefully avoiding anywhere he or Tenten frequented.

Just as he reached the base of the Hokage Tower his clone returned, handing him his pack with his things in it. He put his hand on it's forehead and absorbed it before he walked up the steps and came to the office. Not even really caring, he walking in after a single knock.

Anko was standing in front of the desk, while the Sarutobi was standing, facing the windows.

"Anko-Sensei, Hokage-sama." He greeted them, then stood by his sensei.

"Can you survive for one more day before you leave, Getsuubi?" Sarutobi asked suddenly.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. If it is for a good reason."

"You will leave and take these reports" He motioned to a stack of papers on the desk, "to the daimyo. Once that is done, you will be acting as backup for Kakashi's team as they travel to Wave Country."

Getsuubi smiled ever so slightly, as did Anko when she saw it. "Hai, I can wait. You both know where to find me until then." He jumped past them and out the window.

Anko laughed at his antics. "At least he knows that since he wasn't expressly invited, he can dismiss himself."

"Hai." The Hokage smiled. "Now, back to the matter at hand. Are you sure that between yourself, Kakashi, and Getsuubi, you can handle anything that happens?"

Anko became serious. "Hai, Hokage-sama. I understand what he can do and trust him explicitly. Whatever may happen, if things are as bad as you suspect, we will be ready for it. You have my word."

Hiruzen nodded. "You are dismissed then, Anko-san. Make sure that he has his weapon back soon though. Tenten asked twice if I knew where she could find him already."

Anko nodded and left the office to find Getsuubi and talk to him about what occurred and to explain to him what could happen on this mission and why he may need that blade back. Somehow she just knew it wouldn't end well if he didn't have Saezon with him.


End file.
